Mahou Ridaa Negima!
by Ten-Faced Paladin
Summary: The wake of the attack on Negi's home village has had far reaching concequences that the Megalomesbrian Senate could never anticipate. Watch how Negi continues on his way not only as a mage and a hoepful Magister Magi, but as a Wizard.
1. Teacher and Rider in One

I do not own Negima or Kamen Rider Wizard. Those belong to their respective creators and not me. I am only writing this for fun and perhaps a bit of ego since I was challenged to make a Wizad fic. So, tell me what you think.

Mahou Ridaa Negima!

By Ten-Faced Paladin

Chapter 1: Teacher and Rider in One

**Wales, Britain**

The air was charged with excitement in the mountainside village. It wasn't a normal kind of energy that the magical area was known for, being the host of one of the premier magical schools in the country. Instead, the excitement was more anticipatory as people crowded around said school. Inside the majestic building, inside of a grand hall which looked more like an altar of a grand cathedral than anything to do with a school the walls were lined with spectators who were simply bursting with pride. At the altar position itself was an old man with a long white beard matched by his long white hair dressed in a white robe. In the middle of the room, by themselves were five teenagers in black robes with the stereotypical witch hats on their heads. The odd mundane could have easily mistaken this assembly as some kind of cultish ceremony. The truth was actually nowhere near as fantastic as that.

It was graduation.

"When I call your name, my graduates," the old man's voice echoed through the hall, sounding strong and vigorous despite his age. "Please come up and claim your mystic diplomas. They will dictate your future careers. When you leave these halls, always please remember: A charmed life is a happy life." Smiling, the man reached for a scroll handed to him by another person in a white robe with the hood pulled up. "Now, Negi Springfield!"

"Yes Sir!"

The middle of the five graduates stepped forward, removing his hat which symbolized his transference from a student to a graduate. He was a young man with red hair that faded into a dark brown the closer it got to his scalp and the back of his head. It was tied into a short ponytail at the back. He sported a small pair of spectacles, made more to help one see the finer details rather than needing help seeing in day to day activities. Underneath the cloak he wore a dark uniform, complete with a jacket and the red tie. Hanging from his pocket was what could almost be considered a chain, but instead of links there were jewel rings, some were solid jewels while others had designs across the surface. On his right hand was a ring which had a black stone shaped like a hand while his left hand was sporting a ring which had a large oval ruby on it. Peeking out from his coat was a belt which had a glossy stone buckle shaped like a hand with the fingers pointing to his left side.

Negi walked up to the old man with a smile. The pair exchanged nods of acknowledgement before the old man, assumedly the headmaster of the school, handed a rolled up scroll to the young man.

"Congratulations," The older man smiled, showing more pride than what was for a normal student but a blood relation.

"Thank-you sir," Negi smiled back.

* * *

The graduation ceremony continued onward, but it was short since there were only five graduates that year. Walking through the ornate halls was Negi, looking down at his diploma to see that indeed it was his certificate stating that he had graduated from his school, top of his class even!

"Negi!"

Negi looked up from his diploma to see two young women walking towards him. The first was a girl his age wearing a cloak like his over her own uniform, indicating that she was a graduate like him. She had long dark brown hair which was tied up in twin ponytails which trailed down almost to her waist. Her name was Anya Chocolova, Negi's childhood friend whom had graduated much like he did. Next to her was an older woman with long blonde hair which travelled down to her waist. She wore a one piece black dress with a white collar, which was either her own higher education uniform. She was Nekane Springfield, Negi's cousin although she was more of a big sister to him since she had raised him most of his life.

"Ah, Big Sister, Anya," Negi smiled.

"Did your diploma show you your assignment yet?" asked Anya as she and Nekane reached the young man. "I'm going to be a fortune-teller in London!" Her face was insufferably smug at her assignment, obviously pleased that she would be able to work in such a historic city which had more than a little magical knowledge that was ripe for the picking.

"Mine's just about to show up," Negi replied, ignoring the slight barb to Anya's bragging. As if on cue, the diploma began to glow. On it's surface, words began to appear as if written by an invisible pen. Anya and Nekane leaned over Negi's shoulder to try and see what the young man's assignment was going to be. Negi blinked as the full sentence was revealed. "A teacher…in Japan?"

The three were silent for a moment

"MAAAAGUUUUUS!" Nekane's scream echoed through the air.

Negi wasn't entirely sure what had happened next, but he felt like he was yanked by the arm before he was dragged through the school. The next thing he knew, he was in a completely different hallway where the magus was walking. What made the trip so confusing was that he was pretty sure that the hallway he had been was on the opposite side of the school. Then again, he knew that Nekane and Anya had a habit of doing strange things when they were upset.

"Magus! It's Negi's diploma!" Nekane cried, running up to the old man. "It says he's supposed to be-!"

"A teacher. I know," Magus nodded, completely calm with the hysteria that Nekane and Anya were peppering him with.

"B-But he's only fifteen!" Nekane tried to argue. "There's no way he can be a teacher! Especially not in such a faraway place!"

"Yeah!" Anya agreed. "Besides, he's a total nerd and a space case! They'll eat him alive!"

"Hey!" Negi grumbled.

"The diploma has spoken," Magus retorted calmly with a sense of finality. "Even I can't do anything about it," he looked to Negi, his eyes landing on the rings hanging from his waist for a moment before looking into the man's eyes. "Dedicate yourself Negi. Japan's youth are going to be counting on you."

Nekane looked like she was on the brink of hysteria, looking between Negi and the Magus, but seeing that her precious little brother was not even trying to fight the decision. Tears in her eyes at the thought of her charge being so far away from where she could help him she began to get rubber legs as she fell back in near-faint.

"Sister!" Negi cried, rushing to keep Nekane from hurting herself. Managing to catch her with Anya's help, the pair of them gently sat her down to be at least a bit more comfortable.

"Don't worry," Magus chuckled warmly. "An old friend of mine is the headmaster of the school. Both he and your heart will guide you. I have every confidence."

"Yes sir!" Negi nodded. "I will!

**The Power of Magic Unknown**

**A Young Man Chosen to Face those who Thrive in Despair**

**Educator of the Future Minds.**

**He is Called...Wizard**

**Tokyo Bullet Train enroute to Mahora Academy**

Onboard the bullet train car were female students of the illustrious Mahora Academy. It was an elevator school, providing the educational needs for its enrolled students, starting from pre-school all the way to University. It also had its own community within its walls, providing students with the essentials. In fact, Mahora Academy's size could label it as a small city. Unbeknownst to most people though, Mahora also had a healthy population of mages, considering the school was also the headquarters for the Kanto Magic Association of Japan. It was likely why Negi was being assigned there of all places.

Speaking of Negi, he was feeling distinctly uncomfortable as he was pressed against so many female bodies. It wasn't his fault though. The train car he was in was crowded because of the morning rush. What was more, he discovered just recently that Mahora Academy, or rather the part of it he was being assigned to turned out to be an all-girl school. It came as a surprise, but like an adult he decided to tough it out and hope for the best.

Negi was dressed in three piece suit which consisted of a green blazer and matching slacks. Under the blazer he wore a white shirt with a red necktie. Thrown over his ensemble was a black coat that reached down to his knees. He adjusted his rings, just out of habit. Standing inside a train for long tended to make him bored. He also had on a backpack, filled with most of his essential belongings. He normally would have let his eyes wander after being on the train for so long, but with so many girls around, he didn't want to look like some kind of pervert.

"Excuse me?" a female voice spoke.

"Yes?" Negi asked, replying in perfect Japanese which seemed to surprise the girl and her friends who were talking to him. They looked like students of Mahora, possibly his future students.

"Um...have you gotten onto the wrong train?" she asked. "We just passed the stop for the boys school a few minutes ago."

"Well, actually it's the girls section that I'm supposed to be going to," Negi explained awkwardly. "The headmaster wishes to meet me there."

"Really?" the girl blinked. "Why would-?"

Her question was cut off when the train hit a bumpy section of track and one of the girls tumbled into him. He tried to keep himself steady as well as prevent the girl from falling, but as she fell her hair brushed against his nose in the chaos. Negi's nose twitched before he felt the oncoming sneeze.

"AH-CHOO!"

At the sneeze, there was a blast of wind which went through the entire car, flipping up all of the girls' skirts to reveal a multi colour rainbow of fabric and lace that would have been a pervert's dream. Negi, his head angled down from the sneeze allowed him to see the display. Blushing furiously, he snapped his gaze back up so he could deny having been staring. '_Why does this always happen?_'

"Where did that wind come from?" asked one of the girls.

"A dirty mind I'm thinking," another replied, her face a portrait of embarrassment.

The girl Negi caught flushed bright red and stepped back, apologizing for being so clumsy on the train, but otherwise kept quiet and her voice averted. Thankfully, the awkward moment ended when the train rattled to a stop, announcing their arrival at Mahora Academy. The doors opened, but the students made a mad dash out of the train car, leaving the young man to struggle to keep up.

"**Welcome back students! The student counselling committee has declared this punctuality week! Ten minutes until the first bell! Lateness will not be tolerated! Anyone that is late will receive a yellow card, so we urge you to be at school as early as possible!**"

The voice came over an intercom system, explaining why everyone around was running like hooligans. There were people on skateboards, scooters, even a motorcycle or two. Negi was tempted to bring out his own bike, but that would have been too much of a magical spectacle which mages tried to hide from the mundane people.

Still, old habits died hard especially ones that proved to help keep you alive.

Negi reached to the chain of rings attached to his bet, plucking one that was silver with a red bird marking on it from the chain. Slipping off his black hand ring, he slipped the red bird ring overtop of it. Looking around to see that everyone was too busy running past him and no one looked back, Negi brought his right hand to his belt buckle, holding his hand over it. The ring and buckle then flashed as words spoke from nowhere.

"_**GARUDA, PLEASE!**_"

materializing in front of Negi was what looked like a plastic model which was ready to be put together, all held in a plastic frame like car models would be held in. The pieces hovered there for a moment before disassembling from their frame, letting it dissolve. The pieces then came together, forming a red and silver bird-like creature with a slot on its chest. Negi removed his bird ring before inserting it into the slot. The bird seemed to come alive with a cute tough-sounding cry.

"Explore the campus and report back to me if you see anything too odd," Negi spoke to his Garuda Plamonster, a magical construct. The bird tweeted before taking off into the sky, no one the wiser as to what had just occurred. Smiling, Negi watched it go before he realized that he was also on the clock. "On no! I forgot!"

Kicking off the ground, Negi charged off towards the school where his future boss was supposed to be found, "Please don't let me be late!"

* * *

"ARGH! We're going to be so late!"

The cry of outrage came from a girl with long orange hair tied into two ponytails with bell decorations grumbled as she and her companion, a long-haired brunette on rollerskates ran towards their school, hoping to beat the late bell. "We can't meet this new teacher and get to class on time!"

Their names were Konoka Konoe and Asuna Kagurazaki. Both were members of the famous/infamous Class 2A of Mahora Gakuen. They weren't bad girls and none of them were what one would call delinquents. Sure, some of the lowest scorers in their grade were in the class, Asuna being one of those low scorers. Konoka on the other hand was well-known since she was the dean's granddaughter, not that she was the type to take advantage of that, or anyone really.

"Why do we have to do this for the headmaster anyway?" asked Asuna grumpily.

"It's because I'm his granddaughter," Konoka smiled at her friend, completely at ease with the prospect of being late, but she likely knew being on a job from the headmaster would make for a great excuse.

"Why are you so excited about this anyway?" asked the orangette. "If this new teacher is supposed to be a friend of your grandpa's then he's probably going to be an old fart or something!"

"Don't be so sure Asuna," Konoka smiled knowingly, holding up an astrology book. "Your horoscope says that you'll be having a fateful encounter today!"

"Really?-!" Asuna gasped. '_Maybe some good luck is coming my way after all!_'

"Yup!" Konoka smiled. "It also says that if you say your love's name five times and bark then he's yours!"

"It also says that if you say the name of your love five times and bark, it'll come true!" Konoka continued.

Asuna's face immediately brightened as a grin threatened to split her face, "ALL RIGHT! TAKAHATA-SENSEI, TAKAHATA-SENSEI, TAKAHATA-SENSEI, TAKAHATA-SENSEI, TAKAHATA-SENSEI, ARF!" the last bark was loud enough to startle several people around them.

"Wow," Konoka blinked, a sweatdrop coming down the side of her face. "I…didn't expect you to really do it. I'm impressed."

"Because I'm so dedicated to Takahata-Sensei?" Asuna answered smugly.

"No because I made it up cheese-head," Konoka giggled.

"KONOKA!"

"Oh come on," the brunette smiled. "Can't you take a joke?"

Asuna scowled then huffed before running ahead of Konoha who continued to call out to her. As the pair continued to run, or in Konoka's case skated, they were almost passed by someone. Normally it wouldn't be that unusual beyond how Asuna was one of the faster students. What did catch their attention though was that the one who passed them was a young man. This in itself was rather odd since they were rather close to the girls school and boys were certainly not allowed.

"Huh?" Asuna blinked.

"Ah!" Konoka gasped in surprise.

They only saw the back of his head, which sported a short ponytail. "Hey!" Asuna shouted as she ran up to him and grabbed the back of his backpack.

"Woah!" he exclaimed as he was tugged backwards, landing on his rear painfully. "Ow..."

"Hey, are you lost, buddy? Or can't you read the signs?" she asked as she looked down at him. She had her hands to her hips in a self-righteous pose. "This is an all girls' school. So, NO BOYS ALLOWED!"

"The boys school is one stop before this one, but you can still get there if you take a left out of the train station and follow the main street," Konoka supplied helpfully, seemingly the complete opposite of Asuna's fiery fury.

"I know where I am," Negi muttered, rubbing his rear out of reflex before remembering himself and standing up. He had been expecting this to be honest, but it was still it came as a surprise that hit him out of nowhere...literally. "I'm supposed to be here. i was invited by-"

"Well, well! Is that you Asuna?"

Asuna froze at the voice before turning to the source which was in the building next to them. Looking up, they spotted a man in a teacher's suit with scruffy hair, some stubble, small frame glasses and a cigarette in his fingers. He was smiling down at the scene as if he had seen it dozens of times before.

"Making friends I s-" he cut himself off as he spied just who Asuna was fighting with. "Negi, is that you?-!"

Asuna instantly flinched and scrambled to apologize. "Ah! Takahata-sensei! He…ah…I…um!"

Negi had a different approach. He broke out in a wide grin before waving up to the man, "Takamichi! It's been ages! It's great to see you again!"

Asuna and Konoka blinked before looking to the boy who had referred to their teacher by his first name. One could almost see the question marks appearing above their heads. Up in the window he was sticking out of, Takahata smiled down at his teenage friend, "It's good to see that the welcoming committee found you. Glad to have you aboard." He shook his head, as if thinking about all of the years which had gone by. "'Negi-sensei' who would have thought?"

Konoka blinked at the title for the teenage boy which her teacher referred to him buy. It was enough to snap her out of her own daze brought on by Negi's handsome features. Turning to gaze to the boy, she couldn't help but ask, "Negi-sensei? Did he really just call you-?"

"He did," Negi nodded, confirming Konoka's question. Turning to the two girls, he bowed respectfully. "My name is Negi Springfield. Starting today I am your new English teacher."

"EEEEEHH?-!" Both girls cried out in sheer shock. Well, it was shock on Asuna's part while Konoka's leaned closer to an excited squeal.

"That is total bull!" Asuna cried, glaring at the boy. It made Negi flinch slightly, not wanting to be on the wrong end of her savage grip of the girl. "You can't be any older than we are! There is absolutely no way that you are a teacher! Uh-uh! No way! This has to be some kind of joke!"

"It's no joke Asuna," Takahata spoke, coming out of the building. One may have questioned how he managed to come from his window perch to the doors so quickly but Asuna was too riled up to care, Konoka trying to calm down her friend and failing, and Negi knew the truth anyway. He walked to the trio, ready to intervene since he above all others knew just how bad Asuna's temper could be. "Despite his age, Negi is certainly more than qualified for the position he's expected to fill."

"I'd like to see that!" the orangette huffed, crossing her arms.

"Well, you will since from this day onward he's taking over my class," Takahata replied, sticking his cigarette into his mouth.

"WHAT?-!" Asuna shrieked, turning to gape at her beloved teacher in shock. She looked like she was about to break out in tears at the thought of such a switch happening. "If he was to replace you, it would...it would..."

"Break your heart?" Negi supplied out of sheer reflex, but he then clamped his mouth shut in his desire not to bring Asuna's angry attention back to him. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to be true as Asuna turned her eyes back to him.

"Yes! Break my-!" the sputtering girl began, only to realize just who had offered the suggestion.

Rounding on the boy, she grabbed the lapels of his shirt and began shaking him back and forth. "Shut up! Who asked you?-!-? I don't care how hot you are, you are a nit! A nothing! A-!" Continuing to rant and shake Negi roughly, her hair swished madly as if flames in response to her anger. Several strands brushed past Negi's face, tickling his nose. The reaction was too quick for him to stop and Asuna was shaking him too much for him to try even if he could.

"Ah…AH…ACHOO!"

It had happened quite suddenly, so fast that nobody was able to react to it at first. Frankly, the sight of Asuna's clothes all but exploding off of her body and leaving her in nothing but her underwear with the cute bear prints on her panties revealed for everyone to see caught everyone off guard. Asuna's strangled screech echoed as she attempted to cover her body from sight. Takahata calmly averted his eyes, already guessing that Negi's wind magic managed to get the better of him in the sneeze. Negi himself felt mortified at what he had just done and his face turned bright red at what he was seeing.

"HAS THIS WHOLE SCHOOL GONE MENTAL?-!-?-!"

* * *

**Headmaster's Office - Mahora Academy**

The welcoming group and new teacher quickly relocated to the headmaster's office so Negi could meet his employer and formally begin his job. Asuna was forced to wear the gym jacket and sweat pants as she did not have time to run back to get a replacement uniform, nor did she want to go such lengths and give perverts a free show. She would have to buy a replacement later in order to have a proper uniform to wear.

The headmaster's office was quite large and looked expansive, perhaps par tof which was if a student had to see him they would be a little bit more humble if they felt like they had done something wrong. The man himself was a shorter old man with a long beard, extremely fuzzy eyebrows, and an oddly-shaped head. He wore traditional robes, meaning he must have come from a long-line of established family members. He was looking at the scene of his granddaughter, her best friend, and his new employee with no small amount of amusement.

"Headmaster, please tell me this is some kind of joke," Asuna sighed, still trying to get over her embarrassment from earlier.

"I could," the wizened old man chuckled. "But that would be lying." Ending his amusement, he turned to regard Negi. A fine young man in all aspects and it seemed his granddaughter may be interested in him. Well, there would be time enough for that. "So, this role should be quite the challenge for you."

"It will be sir," Negi nodded. "But you will receive nothing but my best!"

"I expect better," the old man corrected. Negi nodded rapidly.

"Good. You will teach until March then," Konoemon nodded. A mischievous sparkle entered his eyes and he broached the next subject. "Now, if you require a girlfriend while you're here my granddaughter is currently single."

"Grandpa!" Konoka whined, somehow appearing next to her grandfather before bopping him over the head with a hammer. The old man just chuckled while ignoring the growing bump on his head as he

regarded his employee and student in front of him.

"Hello? I'm still not accepting this!" Asuna cried, approaching the desk. "I mean, how can a teenager become a teacher?-!"

"Through hard work and natural talent," the dean answered. "As for acceptance, that resides solely to me and I do," he then looked to Negi once again. "Now Negi-kun, if you fail here there is absolutely no second chances. Are we clear?"

"Crystal sir," Negi nodded. "Only I will not fail. I can promise you that."

The sheer conviction in his voice revealed how confidant the teen was in his role. He knew he could do his assigned task and do it well. Takahata smiled in some pride while Konoka and Asuna were a little stunned by his confidence in himself, but the orangette shook it off quicker. She was still upset over her crush being removed from his position for some teenage punk who she still refused to believe would be able to do the job an adult could, much less her beloved Takahata-sensei.

The confidence made the headmaster smile, "Ho ho ho! Just what I was expecting to hear. We'll start you off today then. Of course I won't let you start cold fish. You'll have an advisor to help you when you are unsure of something or need more information concerning certain aspects of the job. Her name is Shizuna-sensei and I'm sure the two of you will get along marvellously." He glanced past the teens and to the door. "Shizuna-kun, are you there?"

"Yes headmaster."

Negi heard the door open and someone beginning to approach. He turned to greet the person, but suddenly found himself pressed up against a warm and squishy surface which was marvellously soft. He blinked as he was presented face to face with an admittedly pretty woman who wore small oval frame glasses and had long blonde hair. She wore a simple sweater which strained against her obvious assets and a simple skirt. She obviously didn't need much to look beautiful since she was already that without any kind of makeup or elaborate clothing.

"Uh…excuse me," Negi stepped back, flushing slightly for accidentally invading the woman's space.

"It's a pleasure to meet you."

"You as well," Shizuna smiled softly, unfazed at how close Negi was to her. "Do you have any questions?"

"None at the moment, but I'm sure by the end of the day I will," Negi chuckled weakly.

"One more thing," the headmaster continued, catching everyone's attention. "Konoka, Asuna-chan, since we're short on space with the influx of new staff and students, I'd like Negi-kun to bunk with the two of you."

"What?-!" Asuna shrieked out. "But he's-!"

"A trustworthy young man who has my complete confidence," the headmaster retorted. "Besides, he's by himself in a new country and I'd rather he room with people who I am familiar with rather than complete strangers."

Still, having a teenage boy bunk up with a pair of teenage girls was a rather strange move. Then again, having same teenage boy as a teacher made things to be a more than unusual situation. Still, if the boy could be trusted to be a teacher then he could be trusted to control himself around girls even when he would be rooming with them. Of course, the headmaster was also using this as a plot to pair up his granddaughter with a fine young man. Konoka was difficult about the o-mimais and maybe subtly moving things along with a boy her own age might be a better move than his previous attempts.

"Okay!" Konoka nodded with a happy smile.

"Ho ho! It's settled then!" Konoemon nodded with a pleased smile.

"Oh come on!" Asuna cried out.

* * *

Despite Asuna's arguments, Negi's placement in her room was confirmed. So Shizuna, Negi, Konoka, and Asuna were all walking down the hallways towards the class of 2-A which would be Negi's homeroom class. Asuna was pointedly ignoring him as they walked. Negi just felt the awkwardness in the air and wondered if there was anything he could do to get out of this situation with his new roommate. Things would be awkward since he did strip her to her underwear with just a sneeze even if she didn't know that it was him.

The orangette suddenly snapped to glare at Negi, "I catch you peeping at me, I'll send you back to England without a plane! Got it?"

Without waiting for an answer, Asuna stomped off to get to her class. Konoka gave a brief bow to her new teacher in apology before heading off after her best friend to try and calm her down. Negi grimaced at the warning, scratching the back of his head while a bead of sweat threatened to travel down the side of his face, "Nice girl I suppose…" he spoke, but then muttered, "For a psycho."

"You'll get used to her," Shizuna smiled knowingly as the pair continued to walk. "We all did."

Negi chuckled weakly at the comment as the two teachers approached a classroom marked as 2-A. "Well, here is your class. I also have your student roster," Shizuna explained, handing over a booklet to Negi. Opening it, he saw that it contained the names, pictures, and clubs of his new students. Negi couldn't help but blink at the information which had Takahata's personal notes added in the margins, usually about things that he would need to know about his students such as which ones were related the faculty, or emergency contacts among other things. The students themselves were of course were all girls and they were either very cute or very beautiful. Not one was unattractive. Each of them smiled, looking hopeful, filled with hopes and dreams.

Hope was something Negi found to be wonderful no matter where one found it.

"Are you ready?" asked Shizuna after giving the teenage teacher a chance to read over the roster.

"Depends, are they all like Asuna?" he asked, obvious humour in his voice.

"Oh, no!" Shizuna smiled. "Well, maybe a few. Don't worry about it though."

Chuckling, Negi took the door handle and opened it to enter the classroom proper. He took a moment to glance inside to see his students and couldn't help but gulp. They were all of course energetic and seemed like a rowdy bunch, especially if Asuna was going to be one of them. He felt slightly intimidated by the fact that there thirty-one students that he would have to teach, never mind other classes he was going to have to deal with.

And no, it wasn't because they were all very attractive.

'_Well, no turning back now,_' Negi sighed. Pushing the door open, it made a clattering noise. It may have well been a church bell with how the students clammed up and began heading for their seats. Negi saw how well-behaved the girls were for a teacher just entering the room and it made him feel a measure of relief. Stepping inside, he was suddenly alerted when his wind magic kicked in instinctively to make something hover above his head. Glancing up, he saw that it was an eraser. Inwardly groaning but knowing he had to keep magic a secret, he killed the wind and let the item crash onto his head, making a cloud of chalk dust. The girls instantly began laughing as Negi began waving the smoke out of his face.

"Well, (Cough, cough) that's one way to say hello I suppose," Negi commented, chuckling along with

the girls. Stepping out of the cloud, he suddenly felt his leg catch on something, "Wha-?"

TWANG!

"WOAH!"

THUD!

"OW!"

THOCK! THOCK!

"ACK!"

CLANG!

"OOF!"

THUD!

"Ooooog…"

Negi's sudden bursts of panic and confusion were a result of several things. He had tripped on a rope that had been rigged up in the classroom, sending him head over heels towards his desk. At the same time though, a bucket of water came down on his head, soaking only his head fortunately while the bucket itself got lodged on said target and effectively blinded him. When he was far enough, a pair of suction cup arrows came out of seemingly nowhere to get stuck to his butt as he tumbled along. Fortunately, his humiliating trip came to a halt when he crashed against the desk upside down before gravity reasserted itself onto him and caused him to slump down spread eagle on the floor. The laughter from all of the girls instantly came like thunder, echoing under the bucket on his head.

"Negi-kun, are you alright?" asked Shizuna's voice as the sounds of her high heels clacked across the wood floor. Negi felt gentle hands lift him up to a sitting position while the stars continued to dot his eyesight. The bucket was removed, allowing Negi to see Shizuna's concerned face while the other girls in the room suddenly seemed to stop laughing and instead inhale sharply.

"I'm fine Shizuna-san," Negi smiled, not noticing the relief coming to the older woman's face. "I have to say though, it's certainly the most original prank I ever had the opportunity to be played on me."

Now, Negi caught the looks of confusion he was getting from the girls and a few whispers and mumbles. One girl raised her hand and asked, "Shizuna-sensei, who's this boy? Is he a relative of yours that's visiting?"

"Oh, no, he's..." Shizuna trailed off before addressing Negi, "Go on, this is your cue."

"Ah, OK," Negi said as he stood straight in front of them. "I'm Negi Springfield and from today onwards I'm your new substitute English teacher." He gave them a bow before adding, "Please, I hope we can get along."

3...2...1...

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

The young man was instantly swarmed and it was not unlike the time he spent in the train except the girls were now actively crowding around him. They were also asking him questions quite energetically. One girl even had a tape recorder. Most of the questions relayed around where he came from and how old he was, but some of them were actually asking about his relationship status and if he was interested in dating any of them. He was their teacher for crying out loud! He couldn't do that!

Off at one side of the classroom, one of the students approached Shizuna. She wore the standard school uniform and she had an orange shade of hair that she kept in a plain ponytail with the rest of it framing her face. She wore a pair of circular glasses over her brown eyes. If the girl would make an attempt to improve with perhaps some more noticeable clothes, a new hairstyle, and some makeup she would have no trouble attracting a mob of boys on her own. Of course, Chisame Hasegawa made it a point to be plain and ordinary when she could.

While she tried to show indifference at the fact that her new homeroom teacher was a teenage boy, albeit a rather attractive one, she was stillla little stunned over the idea of it. Still, having such an attractive guy anywhere near her school and so close at hand was obviously way too good to be true. Looking to Shizuna, she decided to get some answers and set the record straight. At best, he was an assistant to their new teacher or something.

"Is this some kind of cruel joke?" she asked plainly.

"It's no joke," Shizuna tittered. Glancing over to the front of the room, she saw that the girls were ready to start rioting in their quest to be able to hug Negi or try to ask him a question. Of course, the main vein of the questions that kept popping up were mainly asking for Negi's relationship status, what his cell phone number was, and if he would like to go out with one of them. Seeing that things were getting more than a little excitable, Shizuna decided to bring some order back to the classroom…

"All right girls, that's enough," she spoke up. "He's your teacher. He should be respected, not pawed. Now please stop crowding him."

Various sighs of disappointment sounded off as the girls reluctantly backed away. One person who didn't obey that request was none other than Asuna. She marched straight through the ring of excited girls, right up to Negi. She didn't say a word before she grabbed Negi by the front of his shirt, pinning him against a desk.

"You did something freaky to that eraser didn't you?" she demanded hotly. "I saw it float before it hit you! What did you do?-!"

Negi thought his heart stopped at the girl's demand. She had actually seen the eraser float in that split second before he let it hit him? That kind of sharp eyesight was downright unheard of! You'd have to be some kind of marksman or something to see it happen. A little panicked, Negi decided to go for the tried and true method of playing dumb, "M-moi?"

"Save your fancy Greek words!" Asuna shouted angrily, shaking Negi back and forth in her shortening temper.

"All right! That's enough!" another voice called, punctuated by the sounds of a palm slamming onto a desk. All eyes turned to the source, revealing another student who had soft, regal features with striking blue eyes. What helped her stand out among her classmates was her long flowing blonde hair that reached down to her waist. She seemed to hold an air of maturity around her that the other girls hadn't quite exhibited yet. Although there was a sparkle in her eyes that Negi wasn't sure would mean great news for him.

'_Are those flowers blooming behind her?_' he couldn't help but wonder as indeed it seemed like beautiful flowers were blooming wide behind her.

"Let's just rein it in," the blonde spoke. "We don't want to traumatize our new teacher on his first day." She then glanced straight at Asuna with a graceful smile, "Put him down Asuna. If you want to embarrass yourself then that's fine but don't bring the rest of the class down with you."

"Oh quit your yakking Ayaka," Asuna growled, her fist clenching even tighter. The girl seemed ready to start a fight and Negi was unfortunately trapped in her gasp, possibly to be used as a weapon.

"Now I hear that Negi-sensei graduated out of Oxford even though he's a teenager like us," Ayaka continued. "That makes him more than qualified to teach us, especially you Asuna. Now let him go." The blonde and the orangette stared each other down like mortal enemies about to do combat. The rest of the girls seemed to eat it up but Negi felt like he was about to get caught in the middle. He especially didn't want a brawl to break out in his class on his first day.

Finally, Asuna seemed to back down as she huffed angrily, "The 'goody-goody' act of yours is near perfect. You must sure practice hard."

"Being a 'goody-goody' just comes naturally to me," Ayaka smirked, tossing her hair to the side.

"Heh," Asuna snickered back, making Negi cringe. He could tell she was about to get her kicks in. Anya had done it enough times when she got into an argument with somebody…usually Nekane when they wanted to spend some time alone with Negi. "And here I thought you just wanted to suck up to the first hottie that comes along."

"W-what?-!" Ayaka sputtered, her composure vanishing as her cheeks flushed bright red. Growling not unlike a wild tiger, she stormed up to Asuma before grabbing her by the lapels of her jacket and began shaking her around, "Someone who's into senior citizens has to night to-!"

"Senior citizens?-!" Asuna shrieked back, gabbing Ayaka by her own jacket as the pair began to wrestle.

"Oh don't think we don't know how you moon over Takahata-sensei!" Ayaka snapped at her nemesis. "He's ancient! He's like, thirty!"

"You shut up about him!" Asuna growled. "At least I have decent taste in men rather than immature punks!"

"Oh? Shows what you know! Negi-sensei is a way better choice for a boyfriend! You have no chance at Takahata-sensei!"

"Ha! Deciding to seduce a teacher huh? And you're better than me?"

"At least I'd have a better chance at succeeding!"

"I'd pay to see that and watch you get shot down!"

"Oh? Watch me get a boyfriend!"

Negi watched in morbid fascination as the argument devolved from criticizing one's taste in men to who had the better chance at seducing their teacher. Asuna of course made her intentions towards Takamichi very clear. Ayaka on the other hand seemed to have picked Negi at random (he hoped) to try her own feminine charms on. It was a little flattering, and more than a little embarrassing to listen to as Ayaka and Asuna began to compare what they found attractive in their respective choices. Asuna went on about how Takahata had rugged good looks and was all kinds of strong in how the campus rumours called him Death Specs. Ayaka on the other hand talked about how Negi still retained his boyish charm mixed with maturing good looks all in one sexy package. More than a few of the girls watching the argument gave cheers of agreement in favour of Ayaka's point of view. When both girls tried to describe how both males would look without their shirts is when Negi decided enough was enough. Bringing his fingers to his lips he unleashed a miniscule amount of wind magic to get over the noise and…

"PHWEEEEEEEET!"

The class went silent as they turned to their new teacher who had just let out a whistle that easily overcame all of the noise and cheers that they were making. Heck, it was likely that all of the classes down the hall were able to hear the noise. Thankfully they'd just write it off as the usual 2-A hijinks and just continue with their day. Ayaka and Asuna were frozen in mid headlock of each other, looking to where their teacher just removed his fingers from his mouth and was approaching with a frown on his face.

"If you two don't agree on certain subjects then that's fine. If you don't even like each other then that's fine too," Negi frowned, stopping before the pair. "But I will NOT allow any of my students to simply attack one another inside my classroom! Do. You. Understand. Me?" He finished his last sentence by punctuating every word to get his point across. The girls in the room were silent, slightly flustered by the confidence and authority in their new teacher's voice.

"Yes sensei," both girls nodded. It was a sentiment seconded by the numerous girls in the room.

"Good," Negi nodded, his features softening. "Now let each other go and take your seats. We can begin the lesson."

Shizuna smiled softly as she watched the girls of 2-A take their seats. It seemed Negi had a good handle on what it was that he was supposed to do. He masterfully handled the outbreak between Asuna and Ayaka which to date only Takahata seemed to have the strength to do so. He also managed to capture the entire class' attention, but she had her doubts if it was because of Negi's ability to garner attention towards his lessons or if it was just about how he was something akin to a rooster in a henhouse as most girls schools could be now and then. Well, Negi would have to deal with that himself but she was always open to giving advice.

Asuna's thoughts were downright venomous as she glared at the young man who was moving through the day's lesson...and a quarter of the class checking him out rather than the lesson. '_You may have fooled the others with your fancy words and good looks but you haven't fooled me!_' Picking up her eraser, she tore off a chunk of it before loading it up into a rubber band she had on hand for her pencils and pens. '_Once he floats this everyone will see he's a weirdo and then he's toast!_' She didn't admit to herself that she felt getting rid of Negi would bring back Takahata, but anyone who knew what she was thinking would go without saying. Rearing back the chunk, she let it fly straight towards the back of Negi's head. '_C'mon, float it!_'

BONK!

"Ow!" Negi cried, turning around and rubbing the back of his head. "What on Earth was that?" Looking around, he spotted what looked like a chunk of an eraser on the ground before looking back at his students that were either in a dream-like daze, looking away, or appeared to be paying attention. "Girls, the prank when I got here was all well and good but during the lesson is a bit too much. If you wish to prank me again that badly then leave it for after class would you?" sighing, he returned his attention to the board to continue his lesson. Not even a full minute into the lesson though, he suddenly received three strikes to the back of the head, "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

"Asuna, knock it off," Konoka whispered to her desk mate.

"I'm trying to," Asuna muttered back, firing a fourth eraser chunk which struck true. '_Come on. Float it like you did the eraser!_'

"Problem Sensei?" asked Ayaka. Negi nodded tiredly, once again rubbing the back of his head as a fifth lump joined the other four. "It's Asuna who's chucking the rocks at you. The girl's got more issues than the Mahora Times, plus she's into all those action types of shows. All that sex and violence just isn't good for a person."

"Right…" Negi commented, half-believing the Class Rep considering what he'd seen of the girl's temper and how quick she was to resort to threats. He noticed Asuna's scowl deepen as he was about to turn around to get on with his lesson at long last, but noticed her arm move and something fly towards the back of Ayaka's head. Negi shot out his hand and grabbed the approaching object, revealing it to be Asuna's pencil case. Frowning and ignoring Ayaka's blushing face he looked to the orangette, "Asuna-san, I understand that you're upset that I'm replacing Takamichi but that doesn't give you the excuse to take out your temper on me or your classmates! Now please curb your temper and act like the young lady that I know you are!"

Asuna flushed angrily, having been caught in her stunt and pretty much scolded in front of everyone else. She could hear the chuckling from her classmates and it only served to make her temper stew. Still, she kept her mouth shut since she didn't want to get embarrassed in front of everyone again. Of course, it didn't stop her from planning dark revenge on the foreign boy when she got the chance.

The bell signalling the end of the class rang, allowing the collection of girls to begin collecting their supplies and begin leaving. Negi held his book and staff under his arm as he waited for the ladies to leave. Of course, many of them were making excuses to try and speak to him or saying goodbye in an overly friendly manner. Again, the rooster in a henhouse analogy would have come to mind for anyone that heard of Negi's situation. Not that the girls of 2-A were boy-crazy or anything, but being mostly isolated from boys six out of seven days of the week outside of vacations, some of the more excitable members were certainly hoping to exercise their flirting skills and teenage fantasies.

When finally he was able to leave as the last of his students left, Negi spotted his old friend leaning up against the wall, "Takamichi," he greeted with a smile.

"Hello Negi-kun," Takahata smiled. "How was your first day?"

"It was…an experience," the teenage boy admitted, heaving a grinning sigh. "Are all my classes going to be so OOF!"

That 'oof' wasn't what Negi had intended to say, but he had no choice but to say it when something crashed into his side. That something turned out to be Asuna who having noticed Takahta being nearby, dashed straight towards him and pushed Negi aside so she could get him to pay attention to her instead, "Takahata-sensei! Negi-sensei really impressed us all with how well he knew the subject! I've gotta admit that he's convinced me!"

'_Oh like he's going to believe that,_' Negi thought to himself.

"It's good to know you've given him a shot Asuna," Takahata smiled, patting Asuna's shoulder. "I'm glad to hear that you're going to give him your support. I appreciate it." Waving to the pair, the perpetually smoking teacher headed off to his other duties, having only enough time to check on his friend before heading off. Negi merely scratched his head while Asuna rubbed her shoulder while watching the older man go with a dreamy smile on her face. "Takahata-sensei…" she sighed dreamily.

Negi chuckled slightly at the sight, "So, got a thing for Takamichi huh?"

"Oh zip it!" Asuna bit back, turning around sticking her tongue out at Negi with a frown. "It's not fair. Some punk like you is his best friend and I'm just his student no matter how much I try to get him to notice me," she huffed in temporary disappointment, "Anyway, if you tell him about it I'll but throwing bricks and not rocks next time." The look in the girl's eyes made Negi doubt that she was bluffing and that the word 'bricks' didn't apply to a name for chunks of eraser.

"Duly noted," he sweatdropped. In his thoughts he added, '_Although you probably couldn't be any more obvious unless you shouted your crush from atop the school._'

The orangette made another huff before heading over to meet up with her classmates, Konoka offering Negi a friendly wave as they went. Negi himself felt a little bit drained after that one class, but he could still go for more. He did have a job to do so he wasn't going to simply give up simply because he had a rowdy student or two. Heaving a sigh, he pulled the schedule out of his class roster, telling him where he needed to go next. Hopefully he would have a better behaved class. One Asuna was enough.

* * *

Meanwhile, in a dark and undisclosed location, a man was lying on a couch. He wore red pants, black boots, a black shirt and a worn out red jacket. He also had short black hair and a short, scruffy beard. Nearby stood a woman who seemed to be in high school wearing a black and purple floral pattern dress and a purple scarf.

"This Mahora Academy has such potential. So many potential Gates," the woman said.

"So, when are we gonna do something about it, Medusa!" snapped the young man as he sat up, agitated. "Let's go make a new Phantom!"

"Patience, Phoenix," the woman, Medusa, smiled. "First we need to choose a Gate's that's ready, then we can send someone to do our work for us. There is a Phantom here already who's chosen a target."

"But because of all the magic here, we can just use everyone to make more Phantoms!" he exclaimed.

"The time isn't ripe yet," said Medusa. "But once it is, Wiseman will return to this world again."

* * *

The day wore on and the final bell rang, allowing the students and the teachers to leave. Since Negi had just started, he didn't have any paperwork that needed to be done or papers to mark. Having already prepared his lessons plans for the week and a course syllabus done well in advance, he was one of the few teachers who could leave early rather than leave well after the students already did like most teachers had done. One fellow teacher named Seruhiko seemed to look at Negi enviously as he was still trapped at his desk with the guidance councillor Nita-sensei practically glaring over his shoulder.

Taking a soda from one of the vending machines that were littered about, Negi took a seat at one of the neighbourhood squares that had a rather beautiful statue on a podium decorating it. Heaving a sigh, he took a sip and tried to collect his thoughts. For a first day, things didn't go all that bad save for the beginning in 2-A where everyone got a little wild. None of the other classes seemed to have any sort of problem with him teaching them. Well, the majority of those classes had dreamy-eyed girls watching his every movement. While thankful for the change from the zoo that was 2-A he hoped that the students would get used to a boy their age and focus on what he had to teach rather than what he looked like.

'_Still, what is with that Asuna girl?_' Negi wondered to himself. Granted, he did replace her crush so of course she was going to be a little hostile but her aggression and strength were way over the top for a girl who was her age. Flipping through his homeroom class roster, he spotted her picture among the others. '_Art Club. Well, that doesn't help me out very much. With everything that's happened between us already she's likely to smother me in my sleep. I hope she doesn't find out that it was me that blew her dress off this morning.'_ He gulped at the morbid thought. '_She'd kill me!_'

Trembling at the thought, Negi placed his roster away and tried to decide what to do next. He wasn't quite ready to head to the dorms yet since that would mean running into Asuna again and after how the day yet he wasn't mentally prepared for her just yet. He did hear that Mahora had a lot of different attractions and things to do so he would never be bored if and when he managed to get some spare time to simply hang around. Maybe after the stresses of the first day he should simply take the opportunity of an early day and go have fun to vent some stress?

A tweet was heard and the Garuda Plamonster returned to Negi to report to him. He smiled, allowing the small construct to land in his hands, "Anything to report?"

The Garuda shook its head with a small tweet, indicating that it didn't seem to find anything that stood out. As far as Negi was concerned, that meant that the campus was for the moment safe and he didn't have to worry about certain 'problems' popping up and causing misery.

Letting his eyes wander, he spotted a girl going down some steps carrying a large stack of books. Like the other girls, she was wearing the uniform with a heavy coat and scarf. She had lavender hair that reached down to her chin, but covered most of her face save for her left eye. According to his roster, it was Nodoka Miyazaki, seat number 27. "That looks dangerous," he said . Negi's prediction proved prophetic as Nodoka trailed closer to the edge of the stairs before she tripped on her feet before she began to fall off the side.

"I was right!" Negi gasped, standing up. Reaching swiftly to his ring chain, he produced one and quickly slipped it onto his finger before swiping it across his buckle.

"_**CONNECT, PLEASE!**_"

In a flash of red, a circle of power appeared in the air. The centre was a circle which had something akin to a face on it. The second ring held design at the cardinal points marked with a circle, a square, a diamond, and a triangle. The last ring held ancient and magical writing in it. Negi then stuck his hand into the ring, pulling out a long wooden staff with a crooked top. Chanting a quick spell, a cushion of air formed under the girl to slow her descent. Time given, Negi dashed towards where the girl was going to fall, actually leaping part of the distance to land beneath her to allow him to catch her in his arms.

"Whew," Negi sighed in relief, looking down at his student. "That could have been a tragedy. Are you alright Miyazaki-san?"

"Uhhhh," the bookworm of 2-A mumbled, slowly opening her eyes. "N-Negi-sensei?"

"You...you..."

Negi blinked, realizing that the mumbling hadn't come from Nodoka. Looking up, he felt literally all of the blood drain from his face as he recognized Asuna standing in front of them. Her own face was set to stun, showing that she was not quite sure if she had really seen what she had just witnessed.

'_Oh bollocks,_' Negi thought to himself.

The next moment Negi wasn't entirely sure what happened. Asuna just blurred and grabbed him before he was literally yanked off his feet, leaving Nodoka behind before he was yanked into the nearby wooded grove. There was a flash of pain from where his back was slammed against a tree before he saw the narrowed eyes of Asuna glaring at him.

Asuna began to shake Negi violently. "OK, what the hell did you just do? How did you do that? Are you some kind of alien? An Esper?"

The Garuda Plamonster took offense of Asuna's treatment of its master and started to peck at her forehead.

"Ow! Hey!" the orangette grimaced, swatting at the red construct. One lucky blow managed to strike the little bird, sending it sprawling. At the same time, the little Plamonster dissolved, leaving behind the Garuda Ring which dropped to the ground.

"Uh..." Negi blinked. He hadn't expected the Plamonster to be dismissed with just one smack. Granted, it had been working for several hours already but usually it took something more than humans to dismiss a Plamonster outside of a fellow magi but-

The thought was cut off as Asuna reassumed her grip on Negi, "Okay you! Fess up! Are you an alien or what?-!"

"Okay! Okay! I'm a wizard!" Negi replied, his self-preservation instincts kicking in the face of an enraged girl. His flashbacks to Anya's temper made it a habit for him.

"Either way you're weird!" Asuna snapped back. Her eyes then widened as a thought hit her. "Hey, you're the reason my dress blew off isn't it! You pervert!"

"I didn't do that on purpose!" Negi cried back in panic. "Look, you can't tell about about-!"

"Oh, I am going to tell everyone about you!" Asuna snarled. "By this time tomorrow, everyone's gonna know!" And then Takahata would be back in his normal position as her teacher as was right and proper, but she didn't voice that out loud.

"Well, then you give me no choice," said Negi as he whipped out his staff. This caused Asuna to back away.

"What are you doing?"

"To protect my secret, I have no choice but to erase your memories!" Negi quickly chanted a spell, causing power to radiate from his staff. Pointing it at Asuna, he cast the spell. However, instead of erasing her memories, the repeat of that morning occurred as her clothes were shredded to pieces. Not even her panties were saved.

Silence followed...

"That...was not supposed to happen," Negi gaped, mortified at what happened.

And that moment Takahata decided to show up. "...Er...I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

Asuna let out a loud scream.

Takahata wasn't the only one who saw. As Asuna struggled to find something, anything to shield herself from view while fervently praying that it was all a bad dream, another was watching the scene. Hidden in the shadows of the foliage was a bulky figure that was watching the chaos intently.

"So that's my target."

* * *

Twice in the same day Asuna had been humiliated in front of her crush. She was thankfully clothed again. Negi was with her, apologizing profusely. He didn't know what had happened. The memory erase spell was meant to be simple. It wasn't meant to destroy her clothing or anything. He'd done the spell plenty of times. It was one of the spells that the school expected perfection on so he wasn't sure how it had gone so wrong. Did the magic spirits just not understand Japanese or something?

"This is officially the worst day of my life!" Asuna screamed into the air.

"It's not that bad..." he began. Not the best words to choose as she locked her glare at him.

"How much worse can it get!?"

"Well..." Negi sputtered. '_You could be targeted by a monster bent on drowning you in misery so that you'll die and give your body to its comrade to use as a second skin to fool people with._'

"Exactly!" Asuna screamed. "It doesn't get much worse that this! I may as well drop dead after this! Just what the heck is a magician doing here?"

"W-well," Negi gulped. "I'm sort of here as part of my training to be a Magister Magi."

"A what?" Asuna blinked, glaring at the foreign teen.

"It's a sorcerous rank," Negi explained, rubbing the back of his neck. "Basically we're sort of like peacekeepers or guardian angels. They're sent out to area in chaos or in need of help and render what assistance they can." Sighing as they walked towards the school. "Right now since I just graduated, I've got something of a training license."

"Uh-huh," Asuna frowned, gears turning in her head. "So what would happen if someone found out about your magic?"

Negi gulped, already picturing the consequences, "B-Be recalled. L-Lose my license. Probably get turned into an e-ermine. If the secret gets blown badly enough, I'd probably be left that way for life."

"Sounds fair to me," Asuna huffed, making Negi quiver and look at her with pleading eyes. It may have been considered cute back when he was ten, but now that he was fifteen it just made him look immature and perhaps a little bit pathetic. Then again, there was no room for pride when your freedom and humanity was at stake.

"Y-Y-You wouldn't-!" he cried out.

Asuna's mean-spirited smirk as they entered the shoe locker area made Negi's heart sink. Once Asuna got her indoor shoes on though, she lost that creepy grin for a more normal look, "Okay, you want to make up all of the embarrassment you dealt me?"

"Yes!" Negi nodded rapidly. "Just please don't tell anyone about me!"

"Good," Asuna grinned. Her mind was popping with all sorts of ideas now that she had her own personal blackmailed mage on her side. Her first priority was to try and find a way to get around the bad images Takahata had seen of her so she could finally seduce him. "So, just what kind of magic can you do?"

"Some elemental, some not, I haven't really gotten into the really advanced stuff," Negi shrugged. "This training period is partially supposed to expose me to other magicians and hopefully have one of them take me on as an apprentice you know?"

"Right," Asuna deflated. Okay, so the kick-ass stuff was out until the dork could find someone to teach it to him. "Okay, but what about a love potion? I could totally give it to Takahata and he'd be mine in a flash!"

"Uh..." Negi blinked. "Well...I could make one, but those things aren't always reliable and they're sort of...prohibited. Besides, Takamichi already knows what one looks like anyway so I kind of doubt you'd get him to take it."

"Fine!" Asuna huffed. "Then what about some kind of tree that grows money? That way I can just buy his love!"

'_Man you're shallow,_' Negi grimaced. "First of all, no such spell exists although lots of people have tried. In my class alone more than half of the students tried to find a way to make it work. Second of all, even if there was Takamichi wouldn't go for it. Lots of people have tried to bribe him to do things with more than just money and he never went for it."

Asuna huffed again, "Well, I guess he wouldn't be my dream man if he was bought off so easily. You're not much of a magician though are you?"

"Magic isn't something to be used so irresponsibly," he told her.

"Hey, you want to make this up to me or not?" Asuna threatened as they headed up some stairs to the second floor. "You got any other spells?"

"Well, I know one that can let me read minds," Negi shrugged.

"THAT'S PERFECT!" Asuna cried with glee, rounding on Negi. "Great! Let me drop off some stuff Rep wanted in the classroom and then we'll go find Takahata-sensei so you can find out his true feelings for me!" With a grin, Asuna began running for the 2-A room with Negi trying to follow.

"Asuna-san! Wait!" Negi tried to call to her. "That spell is-!"

"You just make sure you do it right!" Asuna shouted back. "I don't want to get stripped again!" Grabbing the door to 2-A, she yanked it open and...

"SURPRISE! WELCOME NEGI-SENSEI!"

Both Asuna and Negi were taken back in surprise. The classroom was now decorated with balloons, streamers and a banner across the blackboards. The desks and chairs had been pushed against the walls so there was more space on the floor for what appeared to be a welcoming party for Negi.

"What is all this?" Negi questioned.

"A surprise party. Great," Asuna grumbled. Reaching into her backpack she produced a bag of what seemed to be sodas. "I guess these are the party favors."

Negi was quickly grabbed by some of his students before he was sat down in the middle of a table as the guest of honour. Many of the girls immediately began chatting with him, marvelling at how good his Japanese was or wondering about him. Normally this may have been somewhat pressing to a normal teacher, but the girls were the same age as he was so perhaps there was more than a little familiarity than a normal educator would receive.

"Well, this is a good way to end the day I suppose," Negi smiled, testing some of the sweets which had been brought out for the party.

"Um...Negi-sensei?"

The one asking his name had been so soft he almost didn't hear it. Turning, he spotted Nodoka approaching, a shy blush on her cheeks just barely visible underneath the fringe of hair that covered the rest of her features.

"Oh, Miyazaki-san," Negi smiled. "I'm glad to see that you're well. You had a pretty bad fall there."

"Y-yes," Nodoka agreed, half-mumbling. "I-I would have broken my neck if it weren't for you. So...so..." Nodoka looked at the floor before reaching into her pockets. She removed what looked like slips of paper and held them out for the young teacher to take. "Here's some coupons from the bookstore. It's not much but..."

"OOOOH! Coupons!"

"For Nodoka, that's first base!"

"Go Honnya-chan!"

Nodoka became quite flustered as several of her classmates teased her about her apparent 'attempts' to stake a claim on their handsome new teacher. The teasing wasn't malicious of course, and it was all in good fun. One of the people who weren't taking part though was Ayaka as she stood up with a dignified air and more flowers blooming behind her.

"I have also gotten something to commemorate the day Negi-sensei graced our classroom," she smiled prettily, producing a cloth-covered object from...somewhere. Grabbing the sheet, she gave it a sharp tug to reveal an actual stone bust of Negi which had remarkably good detail despite having only met each other that day.

"Uh...it's...wonderful..." Negi sweatdropped.

"Jeez! little much Rep!"

"Oh it figures!" Asuna growled. "She sees a guy come around and she immediately parades her bust!"

Despite several others in the room making comments about the overkill of the gift, Asuna's words were the only ones that Ayaka seemed to hear. Flushing angrily, she immediately turned on her schoolyard nemesis, "At least I can keep mine covered up!"

Things degenerated into a catfight with insults hurling at one another while the other students took bet on who the winner would be. Sighing, Negi decided to let the fight run its course since it didn't seem malicious and instead more like one-upsmanship. Looking to see Takahata with Shizuna, Negi casually walked around the fight and approached his friend.

"Hello, Negi. What do you think of your welcoming party?" Takahata asked kindly.

"I never expected quite a welcome, to be honest," admitted Negi. "Did you know about it, Takamichi?"

"I'm just as surprised as you are. Anyway, it looks like your new students have really taken a liking to you," said Takahata.

'_I think it has more to do with the fact that they haven't seen a boy their age in a while_,' though Negi with some amusement. Well, that may have been male pride talking, but it was still something of an invigorating thought.

As he was talking, Negi suddenly felt the eyes of doom piercing his back. Daring to look, he saw Asuna staring at him rather...fiercely as she licked her wounds from the fight with Ayaka. She didn't say anything out loud, but the message was coming in nice and clear.

'_Read his mind and make him love me, or else!_'

Negi trembled. Of all the girls to find out his secret...

The party immediately turned to full swing as some of the girls seemed to find things getting a little too dull for their liking. A pair of them named Chao and Hakase seemed to have developed a small machine that gave off a light show. They set it up behind a makeshift stage they made from the desks which had the cheerleaders climbing aboard with their pompoms. As one, they struck a pose before beginning one of their routines cheering for their new teacher in one big welcome. There was even music to go along with the routine and light show.

On any other day, Negi would have taken the time to enjoy the show both because his students were so welcoming and because cheerleaders were always fun to watch. Not that he'd admit that last part out loud. He was a gentleman after all. With Asuna breathing down his neck though, he decided to use it for a different purpose. Slipping a hand into his pocket, he slipped his right ring off before slipping on a new one. When the music reached a certain volume, he brought out his hand and swiped it across his belt buckle.

"_**TELEPATHY, PLEASE!**_"

Negi knew he really shouldn't be using his rings on such a mundane task, but his normal mind reading spell required physical contact and if he blew it, he figured Asuna would do some awful stuff to him in retribution. So it counted as an emergency to him.

"So...Takamichi," Negi began, making sure his right ring finger was pointed at Takahata. "You seem like you know Asuna better than the other students. Is she always so...high-strung?"

"Ah ha ha ha, no no," Takahata chuckled. "You just had the unfortunate luck of catching her at a bad time. she's a pretty good kid when she's given half a chance."

'_Although this new 'habit' of stripping down at random moments I could do without.'_

"I...I hope so," Negi chuckled weakly. Oh, Asuna was going to kill him.

Further conversation was halted when said girl abruptly grabbed Negi and yanked him away from Takahata, dragging him to another part of the room. Thankfully everyone was too busy cheering on the cheerleaders who somehow got a gymnast and an acrobat by the names of Makie Sasaki and Zazie Rainyday involved in their act with Makie dancing with her ribbon at the front of the stage and Zazie doing stunts from above on an acrobatic bar. How she got it up there was a mystery that would remain unsolved.

"Okay!" Asuna hissed. "Did you read his mind or what?"

"Uh...yes," Negi gulped. Curse his honesty!

"And?" the orangette demanded hotly.

"Uh...well...um..." Negi sputtered. He didn't want to die!

"Spit it out!"

"He thinks you have a stripping habit!" Negi cried out. Thankfully the music kept the other students from hearing. Too bad Asuna was close enough that it didn't matter how loud the music was.

Asuna's jaw dropped and then she gritted her teeth. "You..." She shoved him forward. "Go on, try again!" she ordered.

"Nnn..." Negi grimaced, but the unspoken threat of violence kept him from complaining. Coming through the crowd of cheering students, he swiped his right hand across the buckle again.

"_**TELEPATHY, PLEASE!**_"

"Asuna still giving you a tough time eh Negi-kun?" Takahata chuckled as Negi returned.

"Just laying down the rules of her dorm room lest I cross them," Negi sighed, thinking of an excuse. "She's...spirited, I'll give her that much."

"She always has been," Takahata nodded. "She tries to be mature though."

'_The bear panties doesn't paint that image though._'

"I can only hope to survive the storm," Negi sighed. "Maybe if I-ULP!" His thought was cut off by Asuna rather unceremoniously grabbing him and dragging him off to another semi-private area to interrogate him.

"Well?" she prompted.

"He's thinking about your undergarments," said Negi.

Now, in some aspects this could be considered a compliment. However, Asuna had been wearing cute bear-print panties that were exposed rather unceremoniously. If it were the sexy black lace stuff then she would consider it good that Takahata was thinking about her in her underwear. As it was though with her kiddie prints, it was just another embarrassing thing that her teacher knew about her.

Needless to say, the whole mind-reading tactic had not gone how Asuna had predicted. Then again, she just learnt that magic was real and was unaware about its limits. So, whenever Negi did try to read Takahata's mind about what he thought about her, what was on his mind were the embarrassing incidents that just made Asuna feel worse.

Feeling dejected, the redhead stormed out of the classroom with Negi chasing after her. He should've known something like this would happen. The misuse of magic always had penalties.

Negi eventually found Asuna at the stairs. She looked like she was ready to just run off somewhere and have a good cry.

"Just buzz off!" she snapped as she spotted Negi following her out of the classroom. "I won't tell anyone about your stupid secret so you can just leave me alone!"

"I don't care about that at the moment," Negi sighed. "Asuna, what I was trying to tell you about that telepathy spell is that it only reads the strongest thought in the head at the time. Unfortunately, since humans generally always think about something significant that happened during the day, that strongest thought is always going to be there unless you blatantly ask them about what you want to know which telepathy rather becomes moot."

"Then what good is having magic?" Asuna snorted, grumbling.

"Asuna, magic isn't a crutch or some universal cure-all. It makes things easier to do yes, but it doesn't mean that it's the easy answer to all of life's problems," Negi explained. A nostalgic smile overtook his face. "My grandfather would always say that magic is not absolute, but true magic comes from the courage from the heart."

Asuna frowned, seeing the advice sounding like something cheesy...but she couldn't deny that it was good advice. She'd been gutsy her whole life and she hadn't been afraid to go for what she wanted and it turned out okay before. Magic would have been helpful, but maybe getting the courage to do things herself would make for better results.

"Okay, I'll be more courageous," Asuna nodded. "Who needs magic? I've got guts."

"Now that would be the real magic," Negi grinned. "So, what do you plan to do to let Takamichi know how you feel?"

Asuna frowned, considering her options. She'd been trying to think of a way to confess for a long time now. She'd always found some excuse not to go for it, but a little bit of courage from Negi, who had no obligation to help her in any way was helping her get her hopes up. Glancing at the teen, she considered using him to practice her confession...but she didn't feel comfortable with that. Maybe if he was a little kid or something, but not as the guy he was now.

"I guess a letter will work," Asuna finally answered. "That way I can make it perfect and set up a meeting for the real thing."

"Well thought out," Negi nodded. "Well then, give it your best and don't give up hope."

"HEY NEGI-SENSEI!"

Negi was immediately glomped around his legs by a set of twin girls who were small for their age and had orange hair done up in short ponytails or buns. If he recalled, they were named Fukaa and Fumika Narutaki. Were it not for their place in the roster, he would have thought them to be in elementary school, not in his class.

"Come on sensei! There's a party going on!" Fuka grinned as the remainder of 2-A began to come out into the hallways.

"Yeah! Why are you out here with Asuna?" asked Fumika with a huff.

"She was just giving me directions to the dorms," Negi quickly replied, not wanting to give his students any sort of gossip material. "Sorry about vanishing like that."

"Well, give us an interview and we'll forgive you!" another student with brown hair tied back in a spiky tail like a pineapple. She was Kasumi Asakura, the 2-A papparazzi who had a reputation for dogging a story until she got it.

"Um...okay..." Negi gulped, feeling like a rooster in a henhouse once again.

Asuna smirked before heading out, leaving Negi to be mobbed by her classmates. She had a letter to write.

* * *

**Mahora Girls Dormitories**

The Party went on for a little longer, Kasumi Asakura getting her story after a lengthy interview. When Takahata and Shizuka finally called the celebrations to an end, Konoka volunteered to take Negi up to her and Asuna's room where he would be staying. When they arrived, they found Asuna surrounded in a small pile of crumpled papers, furiously working on her confession letter. Seeing that Negi arrived, she set her letter aside.

As Negi would be staying with Asuna and Konoka, there were a few ground rules to cover. Well, more than a few. Negi of course knew about boundaries and private time that the girls would need. It wasn't like his old dormitories with the other male student back in Wales. Asuna had way more rules to go over, mainly about not crossing a certain line in the room while she and Knoka were asleep or never touching certain drawers. Negi's room was situated in an alcove which was normally used for a third occupant that had been unclaimed since the new school year.

After dusting it out Konoka had gone to get some food to make dinner, allowing Negi to begin unpacking his backpack for his most essential belongings. Once they were set out though, he slipped a ring over his right ring finger before swiping it across his buckle.

"_**CONNECT, PLEASE!**_"

Asuna looked up from her work, spotting a magic circle appearing in the loft area which Negi was reaching his arm into with it not coming through the other side. After a full few minutes of shuffling about, Negi pulled his arm back to reveal he was holding a large trunk that looked like it was ready to explode with how much stuff was packed into it.

"Big Sister," Negi chuckled, seeing all of the food, magical items, clothes, and supplies that were stuffed into it.

Blinking at the sight of the magic circle vanishing, Asuna just shook her head to examine her latest confession letter. Now that the initial shock had worn off, she could get used to having magic around. So long as it didn't embarrass her.

"Okay," she sighed, reading over her note. "I think that should wrap it up." Asuna had been trying for hours to get the wording just right. She wasn't sure if she should be romantic, intelligent, or some other form of speech but in the end she decided to make it straight and to the point.

Folding the letter, she slipped it into an envelope addressed to Takahata. Heavigng a sigh to keep her courage up, she sealed it shut and got up to leave grabbing her jacket and scarf. "Okay, I'm heading out!"

"Good luck," Negi waved, already guessing where Asuna was going.

Asuna nodded before she shrugged on her cool weather clothes and dashed out with a slamming door heralding her exit.

* * *

As Asuna set out into the cooling sunset air, heading for Takahata's mailbox. She knew where it was since Takahata had been a big guardian for her when she was in primary school and had offered a place to vent her frustrations if things got tough. She'd taken him up on that offer a lot so she knew where to drop the letter off.

"Okay Asuna, you can do this," Asuna whispered to herself. "All you have to do is drop off the letter and then wait to hear from him."

She continued running through the streets, her shoes slapping against the cobblestone streets in their section of Mahora. Asuna kept following the path she kept ingrained in her own memory. What she didn't take notice of was a bulge in the cobblestone moving like water as it followed her like a shark looming in on a scent of blood.

Asuna was oblivious to this as she continued to run. Spotting a shortcut she could use to move along Sakura Lane, she made an abrupt turn and began running down the street, the cobblestones making more noise underneath her shoes as she ran at a pace that made the track team green with envy. Coming out at a park-like area which couples mostly used to gave some romantic time together, Asuna prepared to dash around to her next destination.

But that was when something grabbed her ankle, sending her into the ground with a splat.

"Owwww..." The orangette groaned as pain echoed through her face. Rubbing her face, she got to her knees and looked around. "What the heck was that?"

What she found was what looked like a hand made of sandstone rising out of the cobblestone like it was water. The hand was holding her ankle, holding it like a vicegrip as if trying to keep Asuna from moving anywhere. "What the hell!?"

Then a haunting voice could be heard from within the ground, "Hello...Little Gate..."

Growling captured Asuna's attention as she saw figures emerge from the foliage. All of them looked like they were made of gray stone with lava veins and blac cracks running over their bodies. Their faces were flat with faces that were hard to distinguish between the cracks on their bodies. The only real facial features they had were the bright orange horns emerging from their heads.

"WAAAAAAAAUGH!"

* * *

**Kagurazaka/Konoe/Springfield Room**

Negi was pulling his things from his trunk, filling up his limited shelf space with his collected magic antiques or various other knick-knacks he had collected over the years. His clothes were placed in a special drawer and his supplies managed to find space for themselves. He couldn't reveal his _really_ magical items since Konoka didn't know anything about magic.

"Now for the finishing touch," Negi smiled, reaching into his trunk and pulled out what appeared to be a perfectly polished crystal ball set on a cast iron podium. Bringing it over to his desk area, he set the ball on a velvet pillow. It was one of his most important magical items aside from his rings and belt buckle.

"There," He nodded. "All unpacked."

Just as he finished the sentence, the crystal ball suddenly lit up with bright light. Negi's face was a portrait of shock for one moment before it took on a deep frown as he sat closer to the sphere. After a moment of bright light, the light in the ball dimmed to produce an image. Negi peered into the glass to see the form of Asuna struggling against several stone men with a sandstone hand holding her ankle. The sight caused the English teenager to scowl.

"Asuna-san, is a Gate?" Negi questioned. There had been no clues that she was a Gate but she was surrounded by Ghouls. Not only that there was a Phantom there too. Eyes narrowed, Negi rushed out of the dorm room and ran down the stairs. at a pace almost no teenager could match. Once outside, he put his right hand over the Hand Author buckle.

"_**CONNECT PLEASE!**_"

Reaching into the manifested magic circle. Negi pulled out a motorbike. The machine was encased in a white body with gold accents. The front sported a red gemstone where the headlight should be with a pair of gems mounting the sides. Mounting the bike quickly and putting on a helmet swiftly, he revved it up and raced towards the source of the disturbance.

He just prayed he wasn't too late.

* * *

**Sakura Lane**

"LEGGO! LEGGO! LEGGO!" Asuna screamed, trying to free her ankle from the stone hand's grip as the other stone monsters slowly approached.

"Let go? Why? When I spent all day waiting to grab you?" the haunting voice chuckled back.

"LEGGO! LEGGO! LEGGO!" Asuna continued to scream, not having heard the voice.

"Not until I make you drown in despair" the voice laughed, obviously enjoying her fear. Fear, uncertainty, anguish and pain were all part of despair after all.

"I SAID...**LEGGO!**" Asuna's final cry was actually screamed out with fury before she kicked the stone hand, collecting chi in her foot much like she was taught by Takahata. Her aim was true, smashing into the hand. The impact actually caused the hand to snap, deep cracks spreading through the hand, wrist, and forearm of her attacker. There was a cry of pain before the hand was forced to let go.

"AH! YOU LITTLE BITCH!" the voice seethed as the hand sank into the cobblestone. "Ghouls! Get her! Pin her down! I'll turn her myself!"

A creature of stone rose up from the ground.. It stood tall, taller than her by a good foot or more. Its body was thick, like a boulder but had blue orbs residing around its collar and waist like a belt and necklace. Its shoulders were large and bulky with large blue stones that looked like eyes sticking out from them. The arms were human-shaped, but the right arm had several deep cracks in in while the left one was untouched. The legs were rather featureless, showing no real detail of muscles or decoration, the kneecaps looking like round stones with seams in the rock. The face looked similar to a helmet had a slit where eyes would be and a rectangular slit as a mouth. The top of the head rose up like a Trojan helmet, blue and black lines accenting it.

The Golem Phantom had revealed itself.

"Seize her!" the Golem Phantom demanded, pointing it's good hand at Asuna.

The Ghouls snarled and charged towards the orangette with their arms raised, ready to grab her. Rather than be paralyzed by fear, Asuna at least tried to stand her ground. When one Ghoul charged at her, she reared back with her clenched fist and lashed out with another punch.

"HIYAH!"

SPLAT!

Asuna's fist met the stone chest of the Ghoul. Under normal circumstances, she likely would have broken her hand on the monster's chest before she getting swarmed by the remaining Ghouls to be placed at the Golem Phantom's mercy.

What happened was Asuna's fist sinking deeply into the Ghoul's chest as if it were made of wet clay. The body of the Ghoul actually seemed to be repulsed by Asuna's attack, it's entire body being blasted away as if a splash of water was washing away dirt. The remaining Ghouls stopped in their assault, now unsure about their current plan of attack.

"Oh?" The Golem Phantom admired. "Your magic potential is already this great? No wonder you managed to crack my skin. You will indeed give birth to a powerful Phantom when I get through with you."

"Oh no! You aren't laying a hand on me!" Asuna snapped back.

"You don't have a choice!" the Golem Phantom snapped before pointing at her. "Seize her!"

The Ghouls continued their charge once again, prompting Asuna to begin lashing out at them again. she managed to turn a few more of them into dust, but there were simply too many of them even for her before they managed to get a grip on her and force her down to her knees.

The Golem Phantom then made its way towards Asuna and picked up the envelope she was carrying. "Hm, what is this?"

"Give that back," Asuna growled.

The Golem Phantom tore open Asuna's envelope and took out the letter inside. Ignoring Asuna's protest it began to read it, line by line. Asuna had put her heart and soul into that letter for Takahata but some strange monster was reading it.

Then, the Phantom laughed as it sneered at Asuna. "This is so damn important to you? It's pathetic! I mean he's like twice your age! Then again, I guess you don't have that many choices."

Holding the letter up for Asuna to see, the Golem Phantom tore it in half much to the redhead's horror. She then watched helplessly as the letter was torn to pieces before they were tossed into the air like confetti.

Asuna froze and felt something go thump inside of her as she fell onto her knees.

"That's it," the Golem Phantom cooed mockingly. "Just let the despair fill you. It'll all end soon."

Further actions on the Phantom's part was suddenly cut off by the roar of an energy. All eyes turned to the street where a motorcycle had jumped the curb that mainstream traffic went on and roared down the cobblestone path towards the small gathering. The rider, seeing the group, roared onwards, racing past the group, knocking the Phantom and several Ghouls back but leaving the stunned Asuna where she was. Hitting the brakes, the rider skidded to a halt but not before twisting his machine around. Stepping off of his ride, the Rider stepped into the light of the newly activated streetlights.

"N..Negi?" Asuna slowly blinked.

"Oho!" the Golem Phantom snickered, getting back to its feet. "The new teacher decided to come and save his student eh? Just try it! You can use magic so you're perfect to help create another Phantom!"

"I don't really help create new Phantoms," negi spoke, an uncharacteristic scowl on his face. Raising his right hand, he revealed the ring with the black hand on it. "I'm more of the destroying Phantom type." he then lowered the ring to the belt, activating the magic.

"_**DRIVER ON, PLEASE!**_"

The stone flashed before light engulfed the belt, transforming it into a silver metal belt with the hand marking in the centre much bigger than before with switches on either side of it. Negi then reached to the belt itself and pushed the switches causing the hand to move from pointing to his left side to pointing to his right side. A magic circle lit up in the centre before the belt began to...sing.

"_**SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN! SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN! SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN!**_"

"It can't be-!" the Golem Phantom gasped, for once loosing its cool. "Is that-?-! Are you?-!"

Negi didn't reply as he held up his left hand with the ruby circular gem on it. Pressing a hidden mechanism on it, he pushed a metal siding forward over the stone, making it look like a face with large eyes on it, saying only one word as he brought it to his changed belt. "Henshin!"

"_**FLAME, PLEASE! HII HII, HII HII HII!**_"

Swiping the ring, Negi held his left arm out to the side. In front of said hand, a large magic circle materialized which was bright red and had flames licking at the edges. The circle then moved once fully manifested, passing over Negi's form. As his body passed through it, it emerged...changed.

From head to toe he was clad in a black bodysuit which concealed his form. The silver belt and chain of rings at his side stayed the same, but the rest was different. His chest was covered in red gem-like armour which was a long line down the middle with three sections on each side that were rectangular, but slightly askew. His shoulders were covered in black armor with silver edges that were decorated with dragon-like crests. From his waist hung a robe-like waist covering which was red on the inside but black on the outside. His wrists and ankles sported bands that were the same ruby red as his chest plate. Finally, his head was concealed by a silver helmet which had a ruby red faceplate decorated like the ring he wore, sporting metal lines making it appear as if it had large eyes with antennae rising from the forehead.

Kamen Rider Wizard had made his debut.

"The Wizard?-!" the Golem Phantom gasped. "What are you doing here?-! You're supposed to be in Wales!"

"Special assignment," Wizard replied. "Now get away from my student."

"You don't scare me!" shouted the Golem Phantom. "Ghouls, get him!" The Ghouls charged at Wizard who snapped his fingers.

"Now, it's showtime." He ducked from their attacks and then spun around to hit one Ghoul across the face with an explosive punch. Performing a backflip, he nailed another in the chin before making some distance. He replaced his Driver On Ring with the Connect Ring and set the hand marking on his buckle to the right before putting his right hand over it.

"_**CONNECT, PLEASE!**_"

Reaching into the magic circle, he withdrew his weapon. The gun was of a very unique design. It was silver and bulky with a closed fist mounted on it. Pulling the trigger, he fired at the Ghouls, shooting them down with silver bullets. Knowing he had no time to waste on cannon fodder, he then pulled the thumb which opened up the hand.

"_**C'MON AND SHOOT! SHAKE HANDS!**_"

He put his left hand on the open hand-like ornament.

"_**FLAME! SHOOTING STRIKE! HII HII HII! HII HII HII!**_"

Wizard pointed with his weapon at the recovering Ghouls before pulling the trigger once again. Rather than silver bullets emerging from its barrel, magical bullets made of fire did. Streaming through the air, leaving trails of cinders in their wake, the fireballs collided with their Ghoul targets, one for each of them. While resistant to mundane weaponry, the Ghouls were very susceptible to magical ones, thus their bodies failed under the magical strikes. Like firecracekrs, each Ghoul exploded in a small haze of fire which incinerated them, whatever was left dissolving into magical residue.

Snarling, the Golem Phantom raised it's good hand up before sinking it into the cobblestone. After a moment, the Phantom brought its hand back up, revealing a warhammer made of multiple pieces of rock that looked tied together with chains.

The Golem Phantom lunged at Wizard with it's massive weapon smashing down on the ground as Wizard had performed a high jump to avoid it. Landing, he pulled the handle of his gun up and the blade attached on the top folded out. Now wielding a sword, he slashed at the Golem Phantom. However, the Phantom's rocky skin prevented it from taking any damage. The Golem Phantom drove Wizard backwards with a jab of its warhammer, sending the magical Rider skidding back.

"See? You're not so strong!"

"I guess so," Wizard shrugged but then he switched his ruby ring with a topaz ring before holding his left hand over his belt.

"**LAND, PLEASE! D-D-D-D-DO! DO D-D-DO!" **A yellow magic circle appeared under his feet then traveled up his body, turning the ruby red portions of his armor topaz yellow, the sides of his chest armor turning into true squares rather than emulating sections of chest muscle. His faceplate also became square-shaped. Wizard made his way to the Golem Phantom who took a swing at him, only for Wizard to catch the hammer in his hand before punching the Phantom hard in the chest, chipping and cracking its skin as it was driven backwards by the blow.

Some breathing space claimed, Wizard removed the ring from his right hand before replacing it with a ring decorated with an orange stone depicting a dragon growing bigger. Reaching to his belt, he hit the switches on the sides, pointing the palm on the front towards his left side again.

"_**RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO! RUPATCHII MAJIKKU TATCHI GO! RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO!**_"

Wizard then passed the ring on his right hand over the belt again.

"**_BIG, PLEASE!_"**

A magic circle appeared in front of Wizard and he drove his fist forward. His fist exited from the other side as a gigantic version of itself and it knocked the Golem Phantom flat onto its back. Bringing his arm up, he slammed his gigantic palm upon the Phantom and drove it further into the ground. When the impact struck, a cracking noise could be heard as deep cracks began spreading up from the arm which Asuna had struck.

"I must have caught you by surprise," Wizard commented. "Usually Phantoms put up more of a fight than this."

"Grrr!" The Golem Phantom grumbled, pulling itself up, it's body covered in cracks, most of which spreading up from it's wounded arm. "If it wasn't...for that girl...I'd be able...to take anything...you've got!"

"_**FLAME, PLEASE! HII HII, HII! HII HII"**_

"Anything I got then?" Wizard frowned, returning to his Flame Style. He wanted the most destructive outpot for this next move. He swapped out his right hand ring for another one depicting a kick surrounded by a flaming dragon. He then passed it over the Wizardriver. "Fine then. Take this!"

"_**VERY NICE! KICK STRIKE! FABULOUS!**_**"**

A magic circle appeared beneath Wizard's feet, chanelling up his legs. He twisted on the spot, to allow the magic energy to distribute evenly. Moving to a crouch, he allowed his right foot to be covered in flaming energy. When it looked like his leg was actually on fire, he charged forward before doing a frontflip on his hands which positioned him with his back facing the Golem Phantom. He then kicked off the ground in a high backflip, positioning himself for a corkscrew kick. The Phantom was too injured to move as a red magic circle appeared above it. Wizard came down with his foot extended, striking the centre of the circle. The entire construct ignited with fire energy before stretching to allow the blow to land on the Phantom's chest.

An explosion like a small bomb went off, sending the Phantom tumbling backwards with a scream. Hitting the ground, a red magic circle appeared above it as magical power completely opposite of its own invaded it's body, tearing it apart from the inside out. With a final scream, the monster exploded in a fiery haze, letting the magic circle fade away.

"Asuna-san!" Wizard remembered what he'd came here for. He found her in the exact same spot. She didn't look good. Already, her body was showing signs of breaking apart.

Asuna was down on her hands and knees, her entire body breaking apart. Cracks were spreading all over her body, glowing purple. It was a deadly sign that a person had already created a Phantom within their subconscious Underworld and it was fighting to escape. Wizard knelt before her and said, "Asuna-san."

"Negi...?" she asked as she stared at Wizard's red faceplate. "What's happening to me...?"

"Something I'm never letting happen again," he swore as he took a ring from his chain, sporting a stone that was cut to resemble his faceplate.. "Do you trust me?" he asked.

"I...have no choice, do I?" she asked. He took her hand in his.

"It'll be fine. Let me give you the hope you'll need." He slipped it on her finger then set his belt buckle before holding her hand over it.

"**_ENGAGE, PLEASE!_"**

Asuna fell unconscious as a magic circle appeared over her. Levitating, Wizard hovered over the circle and dove into it feet first. He traveled down a tunnel of magic circles with a purple background which would bring him into Asuna's Underworld.

He reached another magic circle, phasing through into what appeared to be reality again. Looking around, all of the scenery was in black and white, indicative of being in a memory. He easily recognized the place as being in Mahora albeit one he hadn't seen before. Spying one of the nearby buildings, he saw groups of small children coming out through the doors to meet their parents, all of them dressed in primary school uniforms.

Passing through the crowds, none of which took notice of them, he saw a small girl with orange hair tied in twin ponytails approaching a beardless and slightly younger Takahata.

"Happy Birthday Asuna," he smiled warmly, making the younger girl smile back. "I managed to get you something of a gift today. I hope you like it."

"Weally?" the little Asuna gasped in delight.

"Yup," Takahata smiled. Reaching into his pocket, he came back out with something in a small wrapped package. Asuna quickly took them, tearing away the paper as little kids were used to doing. For a brief second, Wizard saw the bell ornaments which Asuna was wearing before she started squealing in delight.

"So pwetty!" she beamed. "I lo-!"

KRACK!

Then entire scene froze as deep purple cracks appeared between little Asuna and Takahata. Wizard tensed for a moment before the entire crack smashed open to reveal a purple void. What came out was a twisted monster Negi recalled from his studies known as an Efreet.

"Efreet Phantom huh?" he frowned. "Why do the Phantoms in the Underworld have to be so big?"

The Efreet was a massive wolf-like creature with a mane of flames and a humanoid upper body. It also had horns and it let loose a roar as it started to attack everything, making more and more cracks as it attempted to break free from Asuna's Underworld.

Wizard had to leap to the side to avoid being trampled. He then slipped on a ring and placed his hand over his buckle.

"_**DRAGORISE, PLEASE!"**_

A magic circle appeared above and a dragon burst out of it. The beast looked more mechanical than flesh, covered in white armour with gold claws and horns, small wings, and a gemstone on its chest. Possibly that was representative of the magic he held in his control though. The dragon let out a roar and attacked the Efreet. However, Wizardragon then slammed its tail into Negi, seemingly interested in killing both the other Phantom and him. It was only logical since Wizardragon was a Phantom as well, Negi's inner Phantom. Naturally it was hostile to just about everything .

"_**CONNECT, PLEASE!"**_

Wizard pulled his Machine Winger bike out of the magic circle and rode on it towards the Wizardragon. A burst of magic from Wizard's body allowed it to leap into the air above the fight between the Wizardragon and Efreet Phantom. Coming down on the Dragon Phantom's back, the Machine Winger split into a pair of wings with only the handlebars and seat remaining. The machine came down and attached perfectly to the Wizardragon's back, becoming more docile as Wizard's magic allowed him complete control.

"Now, let's end this!" Wizard shouted.

Wizardragon unleashed a roar before shooting several fireballs which collided against the Efreet Phantom, smashing it against the primary school and causing more purple cracks. Wizard then drove his mount forward, smashing into it and pushing it along the building before a final thrust knocked it into the streets, making even more racks along the way.

"Asuna won't last if this keeps up," Wizard frowned. He hated long battles in the Underworld since if it went too long or got too wild, the Phantom would have a better chance of escaping if something wasn't done. "Dragon! End this!"

The Wizardragon bellowed and flapped it's new wings to shoot up into the air. Coming to a stop several feet into the sky, he began a downward dive towards the Efreet Phantom to take it down once and for all. The Phantom snarled at the descending pair and coated it's body in flames before leaping on top of the primary school and into the air to tackle both enemies out of the sky.

"Don't think so!" Wizard shouted, swiping his Kick Strike Ring across the Grimoire Stone once again.

"_**VERY NICE! KICK STRIKE! FABULOUS!**_"

Wizardragon bellowed before the Machine Winger detached and became a bike again. Wizardragon likewise shifted and transformed into what looked like a massive foot with its horns and claws taking the forms of the talon toes with the rest forming the rest of the foot. Wizard came down and connected his own foot with the end, attaching himself to it while the Machine Winger connected behind him to help keep him in pace. Once the transformation was complete, the massive foot became engulfed in magic power, projecting the image of a giant Wizard wielding the construct.

The Efreet Phantom attempted to shred the attacker, but it's claws only bounced off the steel skin before the impact smashed against it's head, pushing it down towards the ground. The impact struck the road hard, making more purple cracks but the Efreet Phantom was crushed beneath the magically enhanced attack, causing it to explode in a fiery haze.

Rather than cause damage, the explosion actually caused all of the purple cracks in the area to close themselves up. All around, the people began moving again as Asuna's Underworld was restored. Wizard leaped off his Phantom, allowing it to vanish into a magic ring back into his own Underworld where it was imprisoned.

Walking over to the Machine Winger, Wizard shook his head, "And here I thought Mahora would be peaceful. I should have known better."

* * *

Asuna sat there for what felt like forever, very sure that she was on the brink of death. It felt like she was drowning in despair and losing all sensation in her body while something was trying to break its way out of her skin. As soon as the event began though, it suddenly ended with the purple cracks in her body sealing themselves back up again. Beside her, another red magic ring appeared before Wizard drove out on top of his motorcycle. Coming to a stop, he turned to see Asuna before his armor was stripped off by yet another magic circle, leaving him as Negi Springfield once again.

"Are you all right Asuna-san?" he asked, dismounting his machine.

"I...I think so," the orangette replied, slowly standing up. "What...what was all that?"

"Something I had hoped was dead and buried," Negi sighed, approaching her. "It seems that rather than going away, the problem just moved somewhere else. Maybe this was the reason I was assigned to Mahora. To fight the Phantoms."

"And Phantoms are...?"

"Creatures brought to this realm through despair," he answered. "Come on, let me take you back to your dorm. After what happened, you'll need rest." Asuna picked up the pieces of her heartfelt letter but Negi put a hand on her shoulder. "You can always write another one. The Phantom may have destroyed your letter, but not your feelings."

"You're right," agreed Asuna, smiling back at Negi and his encouragement. She looked at his machine. "So, that's your bike, huh?"

"Yes," Negi answered, already guessing what her next request was going to be.

* * *

As Negi drove the bike with Asuna riding behind him, she looked down at the ring she now wore on her right hand. Negi had given it to her. She blushed at the sheer thought of it. Didn't he know the implications of giving a ring to a girl? She then put her arms around Negi and closed her eyes, feeling tired after her ordeal.

* * *

Unbeknownst the the pair, the brawl had been watched by two sets of eyes from atop of one of the buildings. One was a small girl with long blonde hair dressed in a black lolita outfit. Her eyes were blue and her features foreign, but nothing but pure malice came from her. She was one of Negi's students, Evangeline A. K. McDowell, otherwise known as the vampire Dark Evangel, a living nightmare and one of the threats parents would use to make their children behave.

Beside her was a taller girl with very pale Japanese features who was wearing the school uniform. She had long green hair which fell to her backside while her ears were some kind of metallic fins. Also to note were the metal sections on her neck and kneecaps, indicating that she was a robot. Most of her classmates simply assumed she was a cosplayer of some kind and never brought it up, but few knew the truth. She was Chachamaru Karakuri, Evangeline's maid and battle partner.

"Recording complete Master," Chachamaru spoke, a soft click echoing from her head.

"Good," Evangeline nodded. "I thought that the brat coming here would be the final piece in getting out of this dive, but if he's using Wizard Stone magic then things are going to get tough," her face was sour for a moment before a grin overtook her features. "Just like that idiot's son, getting into things that should end up killing him but coming out on top anyway."

"Master, what about the Phantom?" asked Chachamaru. "Databases suggest that they never act alone and if one has come to Mahora then there is a significant danger ratio, even for you."

"True. Despair's a tricky thing even for the most powerful," Evangeline nodded. She of course knew about Phantoms. Pretty much every magical who dealt with the darkest and foulest magics knew about them. Not many were stupid enough to deal with them though considering how they were summoned and their general attitudes towards everything non-Phantom. With how self-righteous most magical organizations were though knowledge about them was erased or destroyed to try and prevent them from coming back. As a result, not many knew how to deal with them. Magic was the way to go, but Wizard Stone magic was by far the most effective, driven by willpower and hope to counteract a Phantom's despair.

"We'll sit on this information for now," Eva finally decided.

"Master?" asked the gynoid.

"We squeal about the Phantom then all the magicals on campus will go into fits and make my plan that much harder to execute," The high daylight walker explained. "Best see what those old ghosts are planning and go from there. Besides, seeing the brat fight will help us plan for whatever he's got in store."

Nodding, Chachamaru picked up her tiny master before activating her internal thrusters and heading off into the growing night towards home.

She still had to prepare Master's dinner and bath.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

A/N: Okay everyone, this is a preview/idea I had. I was challenged to make a Kamen Rider Wizard idea by Star AJT 84. So in response, I with some help from Chrome put this little gem together, pardon the pun. Our little Negi is a teenage Kamen Rider who is ready, willing, and able to protect his classroom of honeys from the evil of the Phantoms. Due to the positive reviews, I decided to turn this into a fic. This isn't the only one. I have plans to turn Cosmic Malestrom into a fic as well. So, please enjoy this while I continue on my other stuff.


	2. Love Bites

I do not own Kamen Rider Wizard or Negima! Those belong to their respective creators and not me. I am only writing this for fun and for no real reason aside from that. If you don't like the fic then you don't have to read it. I'm not forcing you to do otherwise. Now for the rest of you, enjoy!

**Mahou Ridaa Negima!**

**By Ten-Faced Paladin**

**Chapter 2: Love Bites**

The sounds of a motorcycle engine cut through the air as Negi drove his machine back to the student dormitories with Asuna riding behind him. The orangette was visibly tired from the ordeal she just had to deal with, having been at the brink of death at the hands of the Golem Phantom who had intended to make Asuna into another Phantom to swell their ranks. Negi managed to intervene, but it had still been something of a close call before defeating Asuna's Phantom and saving her life. The pair drove away from the scene afterwards, Nagi wanting to make sure that Asuna didn't need any kind of medical attention. Coming to the dorms, Negi dismounted his machine to examine his students.

"How are you feeling, Asuna-san?" he asked, seeing how the girl's eyes were slightly droopy.

"A little tired," Asuna yawned, rubbing her eyes. "I'm still good though."

Asuna hopped off the machine but wobbled slightly from her exhaustion. Negi was at her side in a second, allowing her to take his arm so she could stand up properly. He gently guided her into the dorms and up to her room. Thankfully there was an elevator present or else Asuna was likely to have fallen asleep before even reaching her room. Konoka was _still_ out, which Negi was thankful for since he didn't want to have to explain why he and Asuna were returning to their room arm in arm. He gently sat her down at her low lap table, allowing her to heave a sigh of relief.

"Feeling better?" he asked.

"Little bit," Asuna nodded. "Negi, just what the heck was that thing?"

"Something you're better off forgetting," the Englishman replied, moving to the small kitchenette to see if there was anything he could make for tea. A cup of tea always soothed his blood after fighting a Phantom and it looked like Asuna could use one too after her ordeal. "You'll probably never see one again so you won't have to worry about it."

"_Probably?_" Asuna frowned "Negi, that thing used some kind of weird magic crap on me that almost got me killed! If there's going to be another one coming after me then I wanna know just what the heck it is! I already know about magic so there's no point trying to pull the wool over my eyes on this one!"

Negi filled a kettle with water and placed it on a heater, turning the small stove on. He glanced at Asuna who was now simmering in her seat, making Negi wonder if the water would boil quicker on her head than on the heater itself. Still, seeing that she wasn't apparently going to give up thanks to how stubborn she was he decided to simply bite the proverbial bullet and reveal what he knew. The girl did have a point after all. "It's called a Phantom."

Asuna blinked, "A Phantom?"

"Yes," Negi nodded, watching the kettle for signs of boiling. "They're magical beings who manifest inside the bodies of Gates that fall into despair before being born into our world."

"And just what is a Gate?" asked Asuna

"What the Phantoms call somebody who is capable of using magic or has the potential to use magic," Negi replied. Rooting through a cupboard, he found a packet of Japanese tea. Well, he'd always wanted to try the eastern blends. "Phantoms can only be created by two main ways. One involves a ritual which takes place during a time in which all light in the world would be blotted out like during an eclipse or something similar. The other is when a Gate is attacked by a Phantom who crushes the symbol of their hopes and drives them into despair."

"So…that thing wanted to use me to make another Phantom?" asked Asuna. "What would have happened to me?"

"You'd have died," Negi answered simply, taking the tea kettle off of the burner as it started to whistle. "Then the Phantom would have adopted your image to pretend to be you so it could go off and find more Gates so it could drive them into despair and create more Phantoms."

"Eh?" Asuna plaed, suddenly growing more alert. "But…but why?"

"As far as I know, it involves an entity known as Wiseman," Negi answered, dropping a teabag into a teapot before pouring the hot water inside. "As to who or what Wiseman is and how he's related to the Phantoms I can't really say."

Asuna gulped, the reality of just how close she had come to dying dawning on her, "So…So, how do you know about them then? Were they covered in some kind of Care of Magical Creatures class like in those Harry Potter novels or something?"

'_Are we ever going to be released from the stigma of that novel series?_' Negi sighed inwardly. Ever since that woman wrote those novels, all sorts of people began developing all sorts of zany ideas about magical culture, even if the woman's tales were rather accurate in some cases a lot of different races were insulted by her words. Hell, the only ones who didn't take offence were the goblins who were just tickled pink at being considered smart enough to do banking with gold and jewels. Shaking his head as he let the tea mix with the water, he replied, "No. In fact, magical cultures try very hard to erase any mentions of Phantoms from any kind of records that they have."

"Huh? Why?" asked Asuna in surprise. If Phantoms were so bad, having records on how to beat them sounded like a good idea to her.

"Because summoning them involves human sacrifice, some of the foulest magic one can make," Negi replied, finding a pair of teacups to use. "The elders want that kind of magic forgotten to the passage of time so that no one will even know about it and try to attempt it. Unfortunately, some of them try so hard to forget it that they sometimes go into absolute denial about it," Negi's features turned slightly sour, as if he spoke from personal experience.

"So then…how do you know?" asked the orangette.

"Because I was trained to fight them," Negi replied, filling two cups. Bringing them over to the table, he sat down. "I have the ability to fight them using Wizard Stones which embodies the anti-thesis of the power that the Phantoms have. Magic alone is somewhat effective against them, but my magic is what can guarantee a victory over a Phantom if it's used right."

"Why's that?"

"Because I was brought to the brink of despair, close enough that a Phantom manifested inside of me yet I clung to my hope and managed to come back," Negi replied, sipping his tea.

"What?-!" Asuna gaped, freezing on the spot.

"Let me explain," Negi sighed, setting his cup back down. "Recall when I said a ritual was one of the ways that a Phantom could be summoned? Well, it's a very simple ritual to do and one that can be done completely by accident."

"How do you mean?" asked Asuna, frowning.

"…" Negi frowned. "When I was young, I used to live inside a small village. It was a nice enough place even though I was raised by my cousin who was often busy with her own studies. My parents had vanished and I only had a few friends when I wasn't busy studying. Still, I got by." Negi didn't notice Asuna's eyes lighten in recognition at the admission. "One day…we were attacked."

"Attacked?" Asuna gasped. "By Phantoms?"

"No, by ordinary summoned demons," Negi shook his head. "Someone apparently had a grudge against my village. If it was because they openly supported my father…or for some other reason I can't be sure. All of the buildings were destroyed or burned down to the ground and only a small number of us survived. The rest of the villagers were caught in a petrifaction beam from a high-level demon that most magi can't summon without something boosting their strength. Thankfully, the demons were fought off and destroyed but it wasn't enough to save the petrified villagers."

"…" Asuna couldn't speak. She was still new to thoughts of magic, but somehow she could just picture the carnage that Negi was talking about. The tone in his voice just made it seem to be incapable of anything but being the truth.

"For three days after the attack, I was left to wander the village to try and find a way to take care of my cousin Nekane whose legs had been turned to stone and snapped off by her own weight," Negi sighed, his eyes distant. "During those three days…a solar eclipse happened."

"An eclipse?"

"You need two things to enact a ritual to summon a Phantom," Negi explained. "One is the complete absence of any kind of natural or manmade light. With the village destroyed and the fires having been rained out, the sun and moon were the only things which could produce light and the eclipse took care of that. The second was a human filled with nothing but despair. With so many people seeing the petrifaction beam coming at them and knowing what it could do, they sank into despair knowing that they would essentially be dead. We had a whole village's worth of people feeling that."

"No way…" Asuna trembled, realizing what it meant.

"All around me, people who I grew up with that were petrified suddenly broke apart to have monsters replacing them," Negi replied. "I was so terrified when I saw some of the people who helped take care of me turn into monsters. That was probably when I started to fall the despair too. Purple cracks ran all over my body and I felt like something terrible was trying to break out of me. Probably what kept me from dying and letting my Dragon Phantom out was the hope that I would be rescued just like I had been when the demons attacked." Negi rubbed his back absently. "That hope kept the Phantom from coming out entirely. It was just long enough to wait out the eclipse, forcing the Phantom back inside of me and making the others flee."

"..Wow," Asuna gaped, ignoring her tea entirely.

"After the eclipse I was found by someone called the White Wizard," Negi continued, sipping his tea again "He's an expert in Wizard Stone magic and fighting Phantoms. He discovered what had happened and had come. He destroyed a Phantom which stayed behind to try and fish out my Dragon Phantom. He then saw me and realized that I had survived the Phantom Summoning Ritual. He explained that by surviving the ritual, my magic had become imbued with my hope, allowing me to use a very rare style of magic that very few could use. It was him who gave me the belt I use and the first of my Wizard Stone rings."

"So…you've been training to fight Phantoms for years now?" wondered Asuna, looking at her teacher in a new light.

"And fighting them for two," Negi replied. "They were sparse and I hadn't seen one for months though so I thought that perhaps myself and the White Wizard had managed to hunt them all down or at least drive them back where they came from. Seeing that Golem Phantom here though just made it obvious that they decided to change locations and left the country. I guess there was more to my being assigned here than I had initially thought."

Asuna nodded, now feeling perhaps the tiniest bit grateful that Negi had been brought out to Mahora even if he was a teenage boy in an all-girls school and replacing her beloved Takahata-sensei. "So…how'd your family take it?"

"Big Sister hates that I fight Phantoms so I try not to let her know too much of what I do," Negi shrugged. "My grandfather…he's proud that I can use such a rare and powerful magic, but he hasn't really believed my claims to the Phantoms over the years and the White Wizard seems to prefer people not know about them if it can be helped. The other elders in my home likewise don't believe in Phantoms and don't really try too hard to investigate claims of them, citing it a clash between magic users and summoned demons."

"Denial huh?" Asuna huffed.

"Like you wouldn't believe," Negi grumbled. "That or it's more political and than practical behind denying the Phantoms' return."

"Okay, so then can I ask about this funky ring you gave me?" asked Asuna, holding up her hand with the orange stone resting on her finger.

"That's an Engage Wizard Stone ring," Negi answered, making Asuna squawk at the word 'engage' which made her face turn bright red. "Not like that! It's a ring that allows me to enter a person's Underworld or subconscious where the memories connected to their hopes are stored. Phantoms are born there and try to destroy it so they can be born in the real world. I went in and destroyed your Efreet Phantom there which repaired the damage it did. By wearing that ring, it suppresses your magical energies and prevents Phantoms from using you as a Gate."

"So I can't use magic now?" Asuna wondered not sure if she was sad or not at the idea of being unable to use magic.

"Um…I'm not sure," Negi admitted. "Back in Wales, the Phantoms tried to stay under the eyes of any magical communities so they attacked mundane people who had the potential to use magic. They never bothered to learn afterwards so I don't know if it suppresses magical potential or just the signs of it."

"Oh," Asuna nodded. "Cool." Negi blinked. Not exactly a word he'd used to describe the situation. "So, it's just you that's fighting the Phantoms."

"Pretty much," Negi shrugged.

"Doesn't it get, I dunno, lonely?" questioned Asuna.

"Sometimes, but as long as I got my sister and my best friend Anya I manage," said Negi. "Anyway, since we've got Phantoms lurking about, I think it's time I used them."

"_Them_?" Now it was Asuna's turn to blink. She watched as Negi took off the ring on his right hand and replaced it with another before waving it across his belt buckle.

"_**GARUDA, PLEASE!**_"

He then did the same with two other rings.

"_**UNICORN, PLEASE!**_"

"_**KRAKEN, PLEASE!**_"

Asuna gasped as the Plamonsters manifested from what looked like plastic models, assembling to resemble a bird, a unicorn and an octopus. Asuna somewhat recognized the red bird, but the blue horse with the big horn and the yellow octopus with small stubby horns were new to her.

Negi put the rings he used to summon them into slots on the Plamonsters. In a flash, all three of the constructs came to life, letting out little cries in appreciation for their master.

"What are these things?" she questioned, honestly surprised by the appearance of the cute little animals.

"My familiars, the Plamonsters," said Negi. "They do recon for me." He addressed the Plamonsters, "Please, go out and see if there's a sign of any other Phantoms out there. Good luck." The Plamonsters let out a unified cry before they ran off, exiting out an open window.

"I may as well stop being surprised," Asuna huffed at the sight. "It'll save me a heart attack later. So those things are going to keep an eye out for more Phantoms?"

"Yes," Negi nodded, returning to his tea. "Rarely do Phantoms work in an area alone. That's either because they work together to spawn Phantoms quickly or they've already created a few. Only a newborn Phantom will be by itself for any length of time."

"Don't I feel safe," Asuna shivered. "Okay, I'm just going to go to bed then. Maybe when I wake up the world will make sense again."

"Want to finish your tea?" asked Negi.

Asuna glanced at her cup, seeing it barely touched and cooling slightly before she took it all down in a big gulp before heading to her dresser. Pulling out her pajamas she headed to the private bathroom her room offered, "Peek on me and you die."

"Nekane didn't raise a pervert," Negi rolled his eyes.

* * *

Inside one of the many buildings which played home in Mahora, one in particular was in use. It was a nighttime bar which the young adult population would use from time to time to have a quiet drink. The music was suave and soothing while the drinks were plentiful and high class. At the moment the place had yet to open, but all the same it hosted a few patrons.

A shame two patrons couldn't taste it all that well.

"How much of that are you going to drink?" asked the blue/violet clad form of Medusa as she approached the bar with her arms crossed.

"As much as I feel like," Phoenix shrugged, likewise in his human form. "I can't taste it, but the buzz is pretty cool."

"Hmph!" Medusa huffed. "You're here drinking while we have a serious problem."

"The Wizard. Yeah, I know," Phoenix sighed, gulping down his booze. "Should have crushed that kid when he was still small and weak. Maybe we'd have Dragon on our side if we did. Oh well."

"And the fact that Golem's dead means nothing to you?" Medusa frowned. Honestly, Phoenix could be so lax in his duties! "The fact that we have one less agent to bring more Phantoms for Wiseman's arrival doesn't bother you?"

"Not like we don't have more," Phoenix shrugged, reaching for a bottle nearby but it was suddenly shattered by what appeared to be a poisonous snake striking at it. Turning around, Phoenix saw Medusa in her true Phantom form glaring at him. "Did you _really _have to do that?" he whined.

Medusa was as lovely as Phantom to her kind as her human form was to humans. she stood proud and strong but still held a lovely figure with her body crafted to look almost like a uniform of some kind. A gold band hung on her hips which fell at her back like tails of a dress uniform. Her outfit was a styled pattern of black, white, and violet falling from her shoulders over her chest with a gold crest in the middle. Her shoulders were covered with gold beak-like shoulder pads which enhanced her intimidating posture. Her face was mostly covered by a violet helmet which was covered in reptile scales with her eyes shielded by a black visor. Her mouth was visible, her skin pale with with feminine pink lips. Coming out from under her helmet though were numerous snakes which acted as her hair, one of which was returning from its strike at Phoenix' bottle.

"Stop lazing about!" Medusa hissed, quite literally. "Wizard being here makes our job that much harder!"

"Maa, maa, relax already," Phoenix sighed. "I got a guy in mind to help with the problem."

"Oh?" pondered Medusa, returning to her human form. "Who?"

"Barkeep!"

Walking over the the pair, washing a cup as he went was a young man of obvious foreign descent. He had golden blonde hair and blue eyes which would have earned him quite a following of supporters from the female population. Enhancing his good looks was the mole under his right eye which seemed to add that perfect imperfection for his face. He was taller than most of his average customers and wearing the traditional barkeep uniform.

"How can I help you Lord Phoenix? Lady Medusa?" he asked, his features quite suddenly becoming covered by what looked like an inhuman face.

"Kinda need a favor here," Phoenix grinned. "The Wiz-kid's hounding us again so we need to make a bunch of Phantoms real fast. Interested?"

"I already have a plan in mind," the barkeep grinned. "Leave everything to me. Oh, and please refrain from transforming here during our business hours. I don't want my bar to have a reputation that'll frighten away potential Gates."

"Hmph!" Medusa huffed. "I'm not stupid. Phoenix merely aroused my temper!"

"Well please keep your temper in check when there are humans about. You of all people should know the need for secrecy," the barkeep nodded, setting his glass aside.

"Are you talking down to me?" Medusa frowned, her Phantom features flashing over her face.

"Merely reminding you that you are subject to the rules as am I," the barkeep replied calmly.

Phoenix snickered at the sight, "Man I love this guy!"

"So, what is this grand scheme you've concocted?" Medusa asked impatiently.

"One of the greatest wells of despair comes from the rejection of love," the barkeep explained. "First I will bring love to the lonely hearts of Mahora, and then I will crush all of their hopes in one fell swoop. We'll have a plethora of new Phantoms before the day is done tomorrow and not even the Wizard will be able to stop it!"

"See? Told you I had the right guy!" Phoenix nodded.

"An intriguing plan, but we shall see," said Medusa, clearly unconvinced.

* * *

_Asuna was in a beautiful garden and standing across from her, a long distance away, was Takahata-sensei. Smiling, Asuna ran towards her favorite teacher but as she got closer his features began to change. He became younger, with red hair. She stopped as she froze before him but he took her hand. He then changed into a suit of red and black and smiled at her as he slipped a ring onto her finger._

"_Let me be all the hope you need," he said softly and all of a sudden church bells rang._

"_Wha-?! Wha-?!" Asuna gaped. Looking around, she found herself at the altar of a church and in a wedding dress. Across from her was the armoured form of Wizard (minus the ruby helmet) who was positioned in the groom's place, holding her hands._

* * *

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUGH!"

It was the scream which could be heard throughout the dorms. Unsurprisingly to most of the residents or would be unsurprising when they heard, it was Asuna who ended up making the noise as she was roused from her dream.

"Asuna-san!" a male voice broke through her clouded thoughts. "Are you okay?"

Asuna sat up to see Negi on his knees in his bedding area, wearing his own striped pajamas and his hair untied. After a brief moment, Asuna recalled seeing his face as he was about to marry her in his Wizard armour and how suave and cool he looked. She then remembered how he replaced Takahata and she immediately began to scowl as her face went red with the knowledge that her dream had been ruined.

"STAY OUTTA MY DREAMS!" she screamed, heaving her pillow at Negi, smacking him with enough force to knock him onto his back.

"MPH?-!" Negi cried, or would have if his face wasn't being smothered by the projectile.

"Ah, Asuna?" Konoka asked. She'd been woken up by the noise and let out a cute yawn.

Asuna looked at her alarm clock and jumped to her feet. "Oh, crap!" She went and grabbed a change of clothes from her closet and then ran into the bathroom to get cleaned up. In under five minutes, Asuna was done and out the door.

"Where is she going?" Negi asked.

"Oh, Asuna delivers newspapers in the morning as a part time job, even if she does receive money to come to school here since she's an orphan," said Konoha, emerging from her bed. "Grandpa says she doesn't have to worry about tuition, but Asuna hates being given charity or pity so she works to pay for what she can." She winked with a smile. "Don't tell her I told you that though."

"So...she's an orphan..." murmured Negi thoughtfully. Coming down the ladder with a bundle of clothes to wear, he noticed a glimmer in Asuna's discarded pajamas. Approaching it while Konoka was busy heading for the stove, Negi spotted Asuna's Engage Ring half covered by her sleepwear.

"That girl," he sighed, shaking his head.

* * *

Asuna had to rush to deliver all the newspapers before returning to her room. She landed facedown on her bed, completely exhausted. She just wanted to catch a few hours of sleep before the first bell rang then wake up to one of Konoha's delicious breakfasts.

"Forget something?"

Groaning, Asuna looked up to find Negi eyeing her with a neutral gaze.

"What?" she frowned.

"You forgot something today?" Negi replied before tossing the Engage Ring to her, making it land on her pillow. "It won't keep you off the Phantoms' radar unless you wear it. Please try not to forget it again. I don't want to have to go into your Underworld and fight off another Efreet Phantom. The first one was difficult enough."

"Right, right," Asuma grumbled. Normal circumstances would have had her be angry at Negi's tone, but even she understood the importance of keeping safe from Phantoms. Grabbing the ring, she slipped it onto her finger again. "Satisfied?"

"Yes."

"Then lemme rest until Konoka makes breakfast," Asuna mumbled. "Where is she anyway?"

"Shower," Negi replied, moving to get the teakettle going again. "I volunteered to make tea to help us all wake up. It's a British blend from home so I hope you both like it."

"Yeah, yeah," Asuna yawned, closing her eyes.

* * *

The trio managed to have a splendid breakfast thanks to Konoka's cooking style who even went to the lengths to prepare and english-style egg dish for Negi's benefit to make him feel more welcome. Afterwards it was a mad dash to the train and finding a good place before a similar mad dash to the school was made to get to class on time. Asuna, Negi and Konoka fortunately made good time and arrived in the classroom together. What should have followed was all of the students taking their seats and traditionally welcoming their teacher with a 'stand, bow, sit' led by the class rep. Instead, one Ayaka Yukihiro exploded as soon as Asuna entered by running straight up to Asuna with scream.

"Asuna, I can't believe this! How did you get Negi-sensei as a roommate!" Ayaka shouted, pointing accusingly as Asuna. "It's completely inappropriate to have an upstanding young man like him rooming with someone like you!"

Now, a normal person would have seen it as more inappropriate that a young man like Negi rooming with two girls his age. Ayaka's anger over the situation seemed to stem more from the fact that Negi was an English gentleman who was rooming with what was in her opinion one of the worst examples of proper Japanese female behaviour ever to walk Mahora's grounds.

"Hey, it wasn't my idea!" Asuna snapped.

"It was Grandpa's idea," said Konoka, smiling.

"Well, I still think it's unfair..." Ayaka huffed, arms folded. Then she noticed something as her eyes locked onto it. Her eyes went wide as she grabbed Asuna's hand. "What is this!?" It was the Engage Ring, gleaming brightly with its orange stone in the lighting.

"Oh, it's...um..." Asuna tried to explain.

"How did you get one of Negi-sensei's rings!?" Ayaka shouted. Now the whole class was paying attention. Asakura, the reporter, was the most interested when she heard the news. Ayaka was quite perceptive for detail and since Negi wore such rings, the sight of Asuna wearing one set her off.

"It was a present," Negi answered quickly, trying to defuse the situation well before it went off.

It was like adding blood to an already agitated school of sharks.

"A present?" Kazumi Asakura grinned, dashing onto the scene with a grin and a tape recorder. "Pretty expensive-looking for a present, don't you think Sensei?"

"A gem like that's got to be worth a pretty penny!" another student, a dark-haired girl who wore glasses and had twin ahoge sprouting up from her waist-length hair. her name was Haruna Saotome A.K.A. Paru who was the reporter and sometimes source of all gossip in Mahora. "If a hot piece of man gave me a stone like that I'd consider it a marriage proposal!"

"M-M-M-M-M Marriage!?" Nodoka gasped, her face a bright tomato RED.

"Way to stir the pot Haruna," the dour faced lavanderette Yue Ayase sighed, her emotionless features showing a sign of long-suffering expectations on the wild times to come thanks to the gossipmonger's words.

"Sensei and Asuna sitting in a tree!" Fuka and Fumika giggled. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G! First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Asuna with a baby carriage!"

Most of it was in good fun, some of the girls already guessing that the ring was likely a gift. Some of them even knew it wasn't _just_ a ring while another few actually thought it was real. Unfortunately, Ayaka was among those few.

"H-H-H-How d-dare you attempt to seduce Negi-Sensei!" Ayaka shrieked, her eyes an ominous white in outrage.

"I didn't seduce anyone!" Asuna snapped back, her face red. "He just dropped it in my lap! It's nothing special!"

"A boy doesn't give a ring like _that_ as just some kind of meaningless gift!" Ayaka snapped back.

PHWEEEEET!

The arguments and teasing stopped as negi withdrew his fingers from his mouth from a sharp whistle. he had a feeling that he was going to have to do this a lot during his time with 2-A. Sighing, he decided to set the record straight.

"Everyone, that ring really was just a simple gift of thanks to Asuna," Negi explained with a sigh and perhaps a slightly pink blush. "It was a simple thanks for letting me stay in her and Konoka's dorm room. I only had the one to give at the time and since Asuna and I got off on such a bad start I thought I would give her one first to help clean the slate between us. Once I get the materials together I plan to give one to Konoka-san too."

"Aww, thanks Negi-kun," Konoka beamed.

"So there wasn't any illicit teacher/student action?" asked Sakurako Shiina, the eternally cheerful cheerleader who was a brunette with her hair done up in braids.

"Most certainly not!" Negi flushed.

"A shame," Kazumi shrugged. "Still, it's good personal interest note to hear you have an interest in jewelry. Considering you mentioned needing materials to make another one, can I assume that you have some talent in making your own jewelry Negi-sensei?"

"I dabble," Negi shrugged. "I can make a few pieces, but for more...expressive pieces my mentor handles that."

"Can we have some of your homemade jewelry too Negi-sensei?" asked the pinkette gymnast Makie Sasaki excitedly. "Like those coloured ones you have? Those rings are really cool!"

"I want a blue diamond one!" called one girl.

"Can I have a green triangle one?"

"Yellow square! Yellow square!"

"Oh! Oh! Red circle! Please?"

"Uh..." Negi sweatdropped. "...maybe?"

It seemed that being the teacher of 2-A required fortitude that most teachers didn't have. It was no wonder that Takahata took up smoking.

(LINE BREAK)

The grounds of Mahora were as busy as always with people going about their day to day lives. Most of the people were adults while the rest were university students who were able to take the day off. It was a rather ordinary day so no one thought it odd when they spotted a foreigner walking down the street. After all, Mahora had the highest percentage of international students and residents in Japan. There was no workplace or classroom that didn't have at least three people with either mixed heritage or hailed from a different country.

The man himself was quite handsome with blonde hair, blue eyes, and a beauty mark underneath his eye.

"Now, where to begin?" the man asked himself. "I need a source to draw in Gates."

Continuing on, the man passed by a trio of junior high girls that were obviously skipping if their uniforms being worn after 8:00 was any sort of indication. They were chattering among themselves much like teens would, obviously thrilled with the rules they were breaking.

"So did you catch a glimpse of that teenage teacher yet? I heard he's hot!" giggled one girl.

"I wish!" the second sighed. "I need something to keep going to class for!"

"I did! He's the new English teacher!" the third girl grinned cheekily. "He's foreign and he's oh-so scrumptious! I have him for my third period so I get to see him every day! You two missed him since you were skipping yesterday!"

"Oh you suck!" the first girl hissed. "You could have told us he was real hot sooner!"

"You didn't ask me to let you know," the third girl shrugged smugly.

The man let the girls walk by, but a gleam entered his eyes as he took in the information. An attractive teacher who was exposed to numerous girls daily? The young man must be a heartbreaker to be sure.

"Let's make that literal, shall we?" he grinned, inhuman features appearing over his normal ones.

* * *

The class finally settled after Negi explained why Asuna had one of his rings and everyone who wanted one made requests for which one they desired. Negi had immediately started up where he left off the last time

"Everyone please look to page 128 of your textbooks please," Negi spoke. "First off we're going to see how far along all of you are so I'm going to read a passage in English and then have you translate it into Japanese." Holding up the book, Negi looked to what looked like an easy passage to work with before beginning to read, "_The fall of Jason the Flower. Spring came. Jason the Flower was born on the branch of a tall tree. Hundreds of flowers were born on the tree. They were all friends._" He then looked out to the class. "Now, anyone care to try and translate?"

The class was silent for likely the first time since Negi had met them all. Many of the students weren't even looking at him as he asked his question. He knew the look well of course. Likely a few of the students didn't know the answer or weren't confident in what they did know. The rest who were looking apparently did know but didn't feel like answering or didn't particularly care if they didn't know or not. Negi had worn the same expressions various times during his school career.

"Okay then, I'll pick," he shrugged before looking over the classroom. His eyes then landed on a face, "How about you Asuna-san?"

"Huh?-! Me?-!" Asuna gaped, having been quite pointedly looking away so she wouldn't have to answer. "Why me?-!"

"Well, why not?" asked Negi. "If you don't feel confident enough to answer you can always pass."

"She likely will Sensei," Ayaka spoke from her desk. "She rarely answers any questions. If you'd like, I can do the translation for you."

Asuna turned red, but instead of shouting she stood up and grabbed her textbook,, "Okay, okay! I'll do it!" She grumbled and looked over the passage for a few moments before attempting her answer. "Jason was...on the flower...and fll. The spring...came? Jason and the flower. Um...they ate brunch on the tall tree...and then there were bones...hundreds of them?" her words trailed off as the orangette obviously struggled for the right words. "That is...bones...were...the...trees..."

'_If this is the norm for this class I have my work cut out for me,_' Negi thought to himself. "Okay...not a bad attempt Asuna, but you made a few errors in the translation which need to be looked at."

"A few? Try a lot!" one of the girls laughed.

"She's not much better at math."

"Or science and history."

"That's a little much girls," Negi began to frown.

"She's so dense she once thought that rainbow bridge was a card game!" Ayaka laughed.

Hearing her classmates laughing at her misfortune, Asuna's face immediately turned red as she grit her teeth. Rounding on Negi, she lashed out at him and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, "You picked me to make fun of me didn't you?-! Is this payback for all the ring crap that they put your through or what?-!"

"I wouldn't-!" Negi gasped, but Asuna wasn't in the mood to listen as she shook him back and forth violently. In her attempts to release her anger once again, her hair flew around wildly and several strands of it brushed up against Negi's nose. Like clockwork, the teen's nose twitched as he felt a sneeze beginning to come along again.

'_Oh-no!_' he thought, Asuna's thrashing keeping him from moving to block the sneeze

"Ah...ah...AH-CHOO!"

A blast of wind burst through the room, displacing the hair of several of the girls and sending the jackets of some of them flying off. Unfortunately, Asuna was right in the eye of the storm so to speak and thus received the worst of it. Thankfully, her underwear stayed on but unfortunately nothing else did. She was left standing in shock in the middle of the classroom without any proper clothes on, bright red in the face.

"Oh great plan Asuna!"Ayaka snapped, looking more upset then embarrassed by the situation. "With your grades becoming a stripper is your best bet at employment!"

The words and resulting laughter was enough to snap Asuna out of her shock. She immediately turned to glare at Negi with the fiercest flames of rage in her eyes mixed with a silent message, '_I am going to KILL you!_'

'_I am SO dead!_' Negi thought fearfully.

* * *

Negi heaved a sigh as he set next to a statue in one of the scenic parks Mahora hosted. Asuna thankfully managed to get clothed again before class ended, using her gym uniform. It was lucky for Negi that Shizuna or any other teachers weren't around otherwise that would make for some very uncomfortable questions. The room had been tense enough after Asuna spent the rest of it glaring at his back like she was wishing for death to rain down on him from above or at least like she wanted his hair to catch on fire. For his own health, Negi decided to let Asuna cool off until the day ended before he decided to try and beg her for mercy. The odds he'd survive were better that way.

"Man, why is it that whenever I mend bridges with her something happens to burn them down again?" he wondered to himself. It wasn't like he wanted to do things that would humiliate Asuna. It just seemed like bad luck kept making it happen. Maybe he could still cash in on the 'saving her life' bit and get off lightly?

"Likely not," he muttered depressedly. He didn't help people for any sort of reward or use the fact as leverage. He helped people to prevent them from falling into despair and giving birth to new Phantoms. It wouldn't feel right to use the fact he saved her life to get out of trouble with her. "Best stand tall and take it like a man."

"Negi-sensei!"

Blinking at his name, Negi glanced up to see three of his students approaching. He recognized them from his class roster as Nodoka Miyazaki, Yue Ayase, and Haruna Saotome, the affectionately dubbed Library Trio. Yue and Haruna seemed to be easily approaching him but Nodoka apparently needed help as they pushed her to the front.

"Could we ask you some questions about today's lesson?" asked Haruna with a sly smile.

"Always," Negi nodded, reaching to his bag to get his books and notes. "What's your question Haruna-san?"

"Hey, you remembered my name!" the bespectacled girl grinned. "But it's not my question. It's hers," she gently nudged Nodoka forward who was slightly red for reasons unknown to Negi.

Negi turned his gaze to the shy girl and immediately took notice of something. when he first met Nodoka, the girl seemed to have put a lot of effort into having her hair hide her features. Now that he was taking the time to notice, he saw that part of Nodoka's finge had been styled, allowing one of her eyes and some more of her features to be seen.

"Did you change your hair?" asked Nego, honestly just trying to make Nodoka a bit more comfortable by asking something mundane. "It looks cute." Rather than bring comfort though, the compliment seemed to make Nodoka break out in a rosier blush

"Ah...oh...!"

"I told you!" Haruna grinned as she and Yue took up Nodoka's sides, reaching to brush the majority of Nodoka's hair away from her face so her full features could be seen. "I told you he'd notice it! It's such a cute style!"

"She finally got it out of her face," Yue nodded. "Glad you approve Sensei."

"Ah!" Nodoka gasped, her face going from tomato red straight up to the atomic red. Cringing in fear, she broke free from her friends' holds and took off running down the path.

"Ah! Nodoka, wait!" Yue called, running after her friend.

"Sorry about this Sensei!" Haruna cringed before she followed. "Nodoka! We put all this effort into this! Don't deviate from the plan!"

"O...kay," Negi blinked. "Well, that was a little odd." Already it was just his second day and it was just getting weirder. Was it his fate to be surrounded by strange happenings or was that just because he could use Wizard Stones?

* * *

The Phantom smiled as he finally found a way to get his plan started. He'd heard about a new teacher, a very handsome young man, who'd immediately won the hearts of his female students. They were absolutely smitten with him. Thus making him a perfect catalyst for despair.

It was time for him to get to work and find this Negi Springfield.

The search itself hadn't taken too long. The Phantom had already known he was at the junior high so he immediately set course there. Landing in a private spot, he peered through the windows on all of the floors before he spotted the young man in question. He was obviously foreign and only a teenager, which made him stand out a fair bit compared to the adults or the all-female students that surrounded him. even better, it seemed that the rumours of him ensnaring hearts easily was true as after classes, three of his students approached him before one ran away in an embarrassed fit after a failed attempt to get her talking to the boy.

"Just perfect," the Phantom grinned, leaping onto a tree branch near where the boy was sitting, revealing himself at long last.

This Phantom was male, as judged by the physique. Its torso was brown, looking almost like leather with gold stripes accenting the physique and a red gemstone at the waistline. The shoulders were rounded at the top with white cloth unrolling from beneath them and pink skin with red lines running along the muscles for arms. His waist was a brown and gold battle kilt which had further muscled limbs with red accents on them. On his back were a pair of wings that were rather small for someone of the Phantom's size, looking barely large enough to be called wings rather than decoration and looked like they were made of stone. The phantom's head looked humanoid-but it was made completely of stone with black hollow eyes, appearing more like a Greek statue. The red and gold lines from the Phantom's body ran up to it's neck, making it look like the head was grafted on and red stones were embedded on the ears and forehead. The Phantom even had short curly hair, but it was made of stone with gold lines randomly running through it.

This was the Cherub Phantom.

"If you think you're a heartbreaker now boy, wait until I get through with you," the Phantom chuckled. Opening his hand, there was a flash of red which transformed into a crimson bow that had curled tips and gold siding on it. Clenched with the weapon was a red arrow with a gold tip. Taking the weapon, the Cherub Phantom drew back the arrow and took aim directly at the young teacher's back. Only needing a moment to aim, the Phantom let loose his weapon, letting it cut through the air.

The arrow flew and like Robin Hood or William Tell of old, it struck true. The arrow buried itself into Negi's back before it sank into his body, leaving the boy none the worse for wear.

"The ladies are going to love you," the Phantom spoke. "And then you're going to crush them. Heh heh heh!"

* * *

"OW!" Negi cried as he felt something stab between his shoulder blades with a sharp bout of pain. Reaching behind his back to feel the impact point, he didn't feel anything wrong aside from the sharp jolt of pain. "Did someone throw something at me or was it a bird of some kind?" Looking around, he didn't see anything near him which would indicate someone throwing something at him. He could only believe that a small bird or bug had flown into him by accident.

"Weird," he muttered, shaking his head. Looking to his watch, he saw the time and felt that most of his homeroom were likely in clubs so hopefully Asuna would be semi-alone so he could say his apology. "Hopefully she won't kill me...but she probably will."

Groaning in anticipation for pain, Negi set off for the school. As he passed by several of the other students he didn't notice them begin to giggle and sigh appreciatively in his direction. He merely assumed that it was the girls gossiping about him again. it was only his second day there so of course people were still going to talk. He passed one of his co-workers Touko Kuzunoha, a very straight-laced woman with long blonde hair and glasses whom Negi had seen carrying a sheathed sword around campus sometimes. He had always assumed her to be a very professional woman but passing he he saw her break out in a very loving smile he had only seen Nekane wear before.

'_I guess she's trying to be friendly,_' Negi shrugged as he offered her a smile back, not noticing the woman barely withhold a giggle as he left. He finally found 2-A and looked in through the door to see if the person he was looking for was in, "Asuna-san?"

"Great, just when I was tired of wearing clothes," her voice retorted, revealing her at her desk, looking at Negi with emotionless eyes. She wasn't alone since Konoka was talking with the cheerleaders, apparently over tarot cards while Ayaka was working on some notes. "What do you want?"

"I want to...apologize for what happened today," Negi grimaced, approaching Asuna. "I never really intended to embarrass you like that. I especially didn't intend for my sneeze to react to my wind magic like it did."

"Hmph!" Asuna huffed, turning away from Negi. "Well you did! So you'd better have one great apology or else get stripped yourself! Otherwise I'm not budging and you can sleep in the halls!"

"What?-!" Negi gaped. "Asuna-san! Have mercy!"

As Negi begged for forgiveness from Asuna, neither of the two took notice that Konoka was edging towards them while Ayaka and the cheerleader Kakizaki Misa, Sakurako Shiina, and Madoka Kugimiya watched on with entranced eyes on their teacher. After Negi got through his sixth, 'I'm so sorry' with Asuna's cold shoulder, she made her move.

"Negi-kun?" she sighed dreamily.

"Ah...yes Konoka-san?" asked Negi, interrupted from his begging.

"I...I don't know what it is today," she blushed. "But...but the more I look at you the more handsome you get." sighing, she actually lunged forward and wrapped her arms around him, pressing as much of her body against him as she could. "Please marry me!"

"HUH?" Asuna and Negi both cried in unison.

"Konoka! No fair!" Ayaka screeched, dashing to the pair's side. She was instantly on one knee, holding a bouquet of flowers in one hand "Oh please accept my gift Negi-sensei! I don't mind sharing, but please allow me space in your heart!"

"...did you huff paint or something Ayaka?" Asuna asked bluntly only to be ignored. Behind her, she heard three squeals before the forms of the cheerleaders dashed by, each of them bearing gifts like some twisted form the the three wise men.

"I baked this cake for you today Negi-kun! Please try it," Sakurako pleaded as she held a plate of strawberry cake, ready to be eaten.

"I made this shirt for my boyfriend, but I'm totally dumping him so you can have it!" called Kakizaki, holding up a lovingly made t-shirt for Negi to see.

"I've been working on a new routine," Madoka called out, holding pom-poms. "I can show it off to you in private with my uniform!"

"Hurry! Let's strip him and get him in these clothes!" cried Kakizaki with her homemade shirt.

"Right!" Madoka and Sakurako both agreed as they lunged for the buttons on Negi's shirt.

"Huh!? What!?" Negi recoiled. Asuna grabbed him from the back of his shirt and dragged him out of the classroom quickly. "Asuna-san!?"

"Everyone's acting weird, so we better go!" Asuna told him.

"NEGI-SENSEI!"

"You better run! I'll hold them off!" Asuna urged. "And if I find out you're behind this-!"

"I'M NOT!" Negi cried back, mortified at the behaviour of his students as they tried to follow him.

* * *

Outside, the Cherub Phantom watched the chaos from his perch on a nearby building, enjoying the scenes of chaos and love-struck girls.

"A little longer boy," he chuckled. "A little more and the despair will flow."

* * *

Negi had to outrun Konoka who was keeping up with him with her rollerblades. Then he ran into Ayaka, who'd somehow brought a horse with her into the building. He ran to desperately escape his amorous students and the mob was growing. This was no longer plain weird, but just downright insane! He had to get away!

Desperately looking for a place to hide before the growing amourous mob caught up to him, Negi spotted a pair of doors which looked sturdy enough to keep a mob out. Dashing through said doors he quickly slammed them shut before locking them and pressing his body against them. He let out a sigh of relief as he heard the mob run by. "I'm safe."

"Negi-sensei?" Negi gulped and looked to see Nodoka staring at him. The room he'd escaped into was the library and Nodoka was just putting away some books.

"A-Ah, don't mind me Nodoka-san," Negi chuckled weakly. "I'm just...hiding out for now."

"H-Hiding out?" she asked, blushing brightly. Was it just her or was Negi-sensei looking even more handsome than usual?

"Don't ask," Negi sighed. Looking about, he couldn't help but marvel at the size of the library and how many books it was playing host to. "This is an incredible library. Not many back home can compare with it."

"W-well," Nodoka blushed, clutching one book to her chest with a smile. "The school was founded by a European a very long time ago so it's had some time to amass a nice collection. You should see the college and Library Island. They have millions more."

"Wow," Negi grinned, making Nodoka's heart beat rapidly. "I can't wait to see that. So you're the library expert huh?"

"O-Oh, no no," Nodoka shook her head, but the smile couldn't escape her lips. Beaming, she began edging closer to Negi. Seeing her approach, he felt fear creep into his heart. Trying to move away, Nodoka dutifully followed like a lost lamb.

"Oh no, not you too," Negi groaned.

"Oh Negi-sensei!" Nodoka cried, actually lunging for the Welsh native to try and embrace him.

"ASUNA-SAN! HEEEEELP!" It was a rather unmanly scream, but one perfect for his current situation. Negi made a break for the back of the library, praying that there was some kind of emergency exit he could use to get outside where he could really begin running for cover.

The two ran all over the library as Negi tried to escape from Nodoka's not-so-wicked desires for him. Negi even dashed up a ladder to try and run along the tops of the shelves with Nodoka following him without hesitation.

"Nodoka-san, you don't know what you're doing! This isn't normal for you!" Negi tried to reason with her as he reached the end of the book rows.

"I...I know...but...I'm in love!" Nodoka moaned, sounding far too sensual for a fourteen-year old. "Please Negi-sensei...love me back!"

"Uhhh...that's...uhhh," Negi gulped, searching for any kind of escape route. He finally spotted one with a balcony which allowed access to a second floor of books. Pooling his wind magic, Negi leaped straight up and over the railing to land in front of the book shelves. Panting he looked to see if Nodoka was still well...only to see the girl with a grappling hook attached to the railing already climbing up like a mountaineer.

"Where did you even get that?-!" he cried out. It was like Ayaka and her horse! What Negi didn't know was that Nodoka was a member of the Library Exploration Club, hence she was always equipped with the gear.

"Negi-senseiiiii!" was Nodoka's reply, sounding ominous to the young man's ears.

"For the love for all that's magical, someone help!" Negi cried out, running for the stairs as Nodoka began climbing over the railing to continue her chase. For such a timid and shy girl, she was pretty determined once properly motivated. Deciding to hell with hiding in the library since he wasn't safe even there, Negi ran for the doors again. Reaching them, he struggled with the lock in his panic. "Come on! Come on!"

"Negi-sensei! I love you!" Nodoka cried, swiftly approaching.

"Help!" the teenage teacher yelped, fearing for his virginity of Nodoka got her hands on him.

Ask and thou shall receive.

"HIYAH!"

A sudden impact rocked the door, knocking it clean off its hinges and slamming into Negi's face. Both it and him flew through the air, crashing into Nodoka before they all tumble to the floor. The door flew to the end of a row of books while the boy and girl landed in a heap with Nodoka on top. The usually shy librarian would have taken advantage of the situation in her current state, but with her eyes in swirls and a groan coming from her lips it was obvious that she was out cold.

"Oh thank goodness!" Negi groaned, gently placing Nodoka aside to see Asuna running into the room. "Asuna-san, I'm going to give you an A on your next piece of homework for this!"

"Forget that! What did you do to Honnya-chan!" Asuna growled, eyeing the scene before her with a growl.

"Nothing! Nothing!" Negi waved, his panic seeping in once again "She tried to jump me! I swear! Whatever's going on is making all of the other girls act crazy, even her!" She then asked, "Are you sure this isn't because of you?"

"Of course not!" he denied.

"Then...what about Phantoms?" asked the orangette, gently picking Nodoka up to find someplace comfy for her.

At the mention of Phantoms, Negi's expression turned serious. Phantoms each had different MO's but their ultimate goal was to cause despair in Gates to give birth to new Phantoms. If this was caused by a Phantom, it would explain the weird events going on. Of course, it was one of the most unorthodox Phantom plots he had ever been unfortunate enough to see or be part of.

"You think it really is a Phantom?" asked Asuna.

"I'm beginning to think so," Negi nodded. "That or somebody decided to play with a love potion and messed it up."

"Okay," Asuna acknowledged, placing Nodoka on a table before propping up some books wrapped in her jacket underneath her head to act as a pillow. "So where-?"

"NEGI-KUN!"

The screech was noticeably mature, coming from a woman rather than a schoolgirl. Turning to the exit of the library, they saw Touko-Sensei standing there with a flushed face, open jacket, panting for breath, and her unsheathed sword in her hand.

"T-T-Touko-Sensei?" Asuna shivered. Touko was likely was one of the the teachers she was genuinely intimidated by. She was the advisor to the kendo club and likely one of the reasons why Mahora was so far nigh undefeated for the past 8 years.

"Negi-kun," she crooned. "I...I...I must have you!"

"Run for it!" Asuna cried, making a run for some cover. Negi didn't need any further prompting as he followed, dashing after Asuna for a hiding place. Touko didn't make any other warning before shouting, "_Zankuusen!_" and unleashing what the englishman was some kind of ki technique manifested through her sword. It was sure destructive enough as a bookshelf was sent sailing through the air with books raining down on everything.

"Oh, she's pissed!" Asuna grimaced. "Hey, why don't you bring out that bike of yours!?"

"In the middle of a library?-!" demanded Negi. "I'm supposed to keep the magic and Phantom issues secret you know! Besides, I'm legally too young to drive it! If the teachers see me, I'm busted!"

"You're worried about the law when you've got a psycho love-struck swordswoman on your tail?-!"

"I can escape from her at least!" Negi snapped back.

"Then do it!" Asuna shrieked. "Before she kills us with her love!"

"R-Right!" Negi nodded before swiftly swapping out one of his Wizard Stone Rings before passing it over his Author Stone buckle.

"_**CONNECT, PLEASE!**_"

Negi's magic circle appeared before he stuck his arm into it before pulling back out his familiar wooden crooked staff. Sticking his head out from his hiding place, Negi saw Touko slowly approaching, unbuttoning her blouse as she went for whatever purpose but Negi hoped it was just to allow her to breathe better. Gripping his staff, Negi raised it up and collected his magical power.

"_Ras Tel Ma Scir Magister!_" he chanted before pointing his staff out at Touko. "_Flans_ _Ex Armatio!_"

A sudden blast of wind surged through the room, sending papers flying through the majority of the wind impacted against Touko, blasting her sword from her grip to land off elsewhere in the room. Unfortunately, it also blew off most of her clothes to leave her in her rather lacy white underwear.

"Ohhh, Negi-kun! You brute!" Touko _moaned_, striking a provocative pose. "If you wanted to strip me you just had to ask. You didn't have to use magic!"

"I-I-I-I didn't mean to do that! I panicked when I cast the spell!" Negi sputtered, trying to shield his eyes.

"Seriously, is your normal magic only capable of stripping women!?" Asuna shouted.

"No! This was an accident! I swear!" Negi shook his head.

"Whatever. Just this once I'll let it go," Asuna growled, grabbing Negi's arm and began pulling him towards the exit. "Let's get out of here before she gets her weapon back! I don't think a lack of clothes is going to slow her down!"

"R-Right!" Negi gulped, following the orangette through the door.

"Wait! Kagurazaka! Bring him back!" Touko shouted, struggling to her feet. "We can share! Don't be so selfish!"

* * *

The Cherub Phantom was having a good laugh. He was so engrossed in watching the chaos he did not notice the Garuda Plamonster observing him. Below it on another tree branch were the Unicorn and Kraken Plamonsters, both observing the Phantom as well. Unicorn looked to Garuda and neighed quietly with Garuda chirping back. Soon, the red Plamonster took off towards the school.

The Master would have his answers soon.

* * *

Negi and Asuna dashed through the hallways, dodging amorous schoolgirls as they went It was becoming harder and harder to try to find a place to hide since almost all of the rooms were occupied by the various clubs, studying students, or a female member of the faculty. Each room they tried only served to add more members of the lustful mob who intended to make Negi's virginity a thing of the past.

"Are all Phantoms this sick and twisted?-!" demanded Asuna, panting from all the running they had done.

"Some more than others," Negi panted. "There was one that tried to make a Gate go into despair by cutting off his limbs."

"That would make anyone despair!" Asuna shrieked.

"And he was one of the easygoing ones!" Negi replied.

"Well that's just peachy!" Asuna shrieked as they reached the end of the hall. "Turn left!"

"Right!" Negi agreed. Both quickly turned the corner to try and escape from the hormonal mob but...

*SMOOSH*

"Oh Negi-kun!"

Negi had run straight into Shizuna. Well, more like she leaped out from around the corner to allow Negi to run directly into her arms where she quickly captured him in her embrace with his face secured firmly between her very large breasts

"MPH!" Negi gasped already begging for air.

"Oooh, Negi-kun," Shizuna cooed, stroking his hair and pressing his face deeper into her cleavage hidden behind her equally soft sweater. "You naughty boy, touching a lady in such a perverted way." She winked saucily at him "Will Onee-chan have to punish you?"

"Mmmmph!" Negi cried out, trying to escape, but the only way he could was by pressing against Shizuna's chest which would have only egged the woman on in her seduction attempts. With his other admirers swiftly approaching, he was quickly running out of time.

"Would you let him go already?-!" Asuna snapped, reaching over and actually _pinching_ a portion of Shizuna's left breast, making the woman scream out and let Negi go to try and stop the pain. Negi stumbled back, gasping for breath.

'_Weapons of mass destruction indeed,_' Negi panted, remembering a term used by a classmate to describe a particularly gifted woman the majority of the boys would admire whenever they saw her in town.

"Owwww. That hurt," Shizuna groaned. "Negi-kun, would you kiss it better?"

"Um, gotta go!" Negi and Asuna retreated. While any normal hotblooded male would not decline such an invitation, Negi was a pure gentleman and raised by Nekane to respect women, even if they were turning into lusty, love-crazed maniacs. A ribbon tied around Negi's ankle and he was pulled off his feet.

"Gotcha!" cheered Makie Sasaki as she started to drag Negi towards her. "Now, come to Makie, lover boy!"

"Ahhh! Help meeee!" Negi cried out, tears splashing from his eyes as he was dragged towards Makie who had donned her gymnastics outfit to try and entice Negi for herself. Negi's reaction was a fairly good impression of one Soun Tendo in the crying category.

"Tweeee!"

Flying in through the window was a small red blue which cut through Makie's ribbon, sending her tumbling back into the floor with a solid bonk to the head, taking her out of the chase quite conveniently.

"Garuda!" Negi sighed in relief. "Perfect timing!"

"Twee!" Garuda soared down into Negi's open hands. "Twee! Twee, twee!"

"You found the Phantom?" Negi frowned, his former panic melting away in face of his duties against the Phantoms. "Where?"

"Twee!" Garuda replied and pointed out the window.

"Well, looks like it's showtime," said Negi as he opened the window.

"_**DRIVER ON, PLEASE!**_**"**

With the Wizardriver in its proper form, he set the Hand Author to the 'Henshin' position using the levers on the side.

"_**SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN! SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN! SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN!**_"

As the belt sang, Negi put on a ring with a green stone in it and slid the 'goggles' over it.

"Henshin!" Negi waved his left hand across his belt buckle and jumped out the open window.

"_**HURRICANE, PLEASE! FUU, FUU FUU! FUU, FUU FUU FUU!**_**"**

"NEGI!" Asuna screamed as she looked down and watched as Negi fell through a green version of his magic circle. He then exited in his armor, but something was different about it. The chest plate was a vibrant emerald green with the sides being connecting triangles with green bands on his wrists and ankles with the inside of his coat attachment being green as well. The shape of the gemstone on his face was an inverted triangle rather than a circle like in his Flame Style.

Once Negi was free from the circle, green wind began to circle around him with a loud howl. Quite suddenly, Wizard's descent halted and he moved to seemingly stand on the air. Looking up at the school he saw Asuna sighing with relief and several girls at the windows crying out his name.

Garuda flew out, tweeted, and Wizard nodded before following the bird in the air. At the same time, he summoned his weapon.

"_**CONNECT, PLEASE!**_"

The magic circle appeared yet again, this time red. Wizard quickly reached inside and brought out his signature weapon, clutching it tightly in both hands so that his wind wouldn't knock it the Wizarswordgun (Gun Mode) in hand, he went to confront the Phantom.

"That guy..." Asuna sighed. Just watching him reminded her of those superhero shows she used to watch as a kid, how the hero would always do something unexpected and beat the bad guys. Man, Negi was cool...what the hell was she thinking!?

* * *

Wizard spotted the Phantom easily, the manifestation of despair hiding out on top of a building situated across from the school, apparently finding deep amusement in the chaos of the numerous women inside the school going crazy trying to find out where Negi had gone. Needing no prompting, Wizard took aim and began firing a barrage of enchanted silver bullets.

"Woah! Wagh! Ow!" the Cherub Phantom cried out, stumbling back as several rounds impacted against his hide. Looking up, he saw the approaching Wizard flying through the air, "Oh, so the Wizard decided to finally join in on the fun?"

"You call this _fun_?" Wizard frowned. "I think you've had enough fun for one day!"

"Oh, I don't think so!" the Cherub Phantom retorted, summoning his red bow and a steel arrow with a red tip. Rearing back, he sent the arrow flying at the airborne Wizard. the ring-bearer reacted quickly and shot at the arrow, knocking it out of the air. However, it served its purpose as a distraction as his wings proved workable despite their size as he soared up and tackled Wizard out of the sky. The pair tumbled through the air before crashing into the cobblestone sidewalk, cracking it and dislodging what they didn't already break. While lethal to most who would have suffered it, Wizard and the Cherub Phantom managed to shake off the impact with groans before heading back to their battle.

"I hate my job sometimes," Wizard frowned before he unfolded the Wizarswordgun into its sword mode. "And it's only my second day!"

Wizard charged at the Cherub, slashing with his silver blade. The Phantom raised his bow, blocking the attack before kicking Wizard in the gut, knocking him back with a grunt. Cherub pressed his advantage by charging forward, slashing at Wizard several times with the edges of his bow before actually _headbutting_ Wizard in the head, proving that this Phantom's head was indeed made of stone as Wizard's vision swam while backing away in a daze.

"What's the matter, Wizard? Am I too tough for you?" mocked the Phantom.

"Actually, I think it's time to swat a fly," said Wizard as he put on a new ring and waved it across his Hand Author.

"_**BIG, PLEASE!**_"

Wizard's magic circle appeared once again. This time, Wizard stabbed through it with the Wizarswordgun, letting the blade grow to massive proportions. The massive silver blade cut the air and crashed into the Cherub Phantom, sending the monster screaming through the air before tumbling to a halt with we groan.

"Now let's have our finale," Wizard spoke, tugging the thumb on the Wizarswordgun, opening the closed hand.

"_**C'MON AND SLASH! SHAKE HANDS!**_"

Wizard pressed his left hand against the one on his weapon, making the item flash green with green energy beginning to pool in the weapon

"_**HURRICANE! SLASH STRIKE! FUU, FUU, FUU! FUU, FUU, FUU!**_"

"Haaaaaaa!" Wizard breathed, preparing to unleash his finishing strike. '_One blow, and this insanity will end_'

"_Nicman, Pizaman, Fucahireman!_" a new voice suddenly spoke, chanting an activation key for a spell. "_Ego Evocent Magnum Spiritibus Pacem! Placandos hi Bellatores!_"

Suddenly a glowing green magical circle ringed by arcane lettering and a pentagram in the centre appeared beneath the feet of both Wizard and the Cherub Phantom. at the edges monolithic figures dressed like knights in smooth armour with large shields on their arms that looked like they fitted together appeared As one, the knights connected the shield in each of their arms with the shields worn by the knights beside them, forming a circle of enchanted steel which confined the two combatants at the sides while a dome of magic thunder crackled from above, effectively sealing them in. Inside, the collected energy in the Wizarswordgun suddenly vanished as if erased while the Cherub Phantom's weapon disappeared.

"Oh bollocks," Wizard groaned.

"Hey, what gives?-!" demanded the Cherub Phantom.

"Seruhiko, is the mundane repellant field in place?"

"Yes Gandolfini-san. We are clear with no one the wiser as to what is happening. Nutmeg-san is already producing a cover."

"Excellent, ho ho ho. Shall we meet our unexpected guests then?"

Wizard was pretty sure his heart stopped when he heard that last voice. The laugh itself was pretty easy to understand, belonging to one Konoemon Konoe. No doubt the others around him were his magic-capable staff.

The monolithic knights then seemed to turn opaque, allowing vision both into and out of the sudden barrier. Wizard felt his heart drop when he saw several of his co-workers standing at the edge of the barrier. He recognized many of them such as the ever-so straight-laced Akashi-sensei, the pretty boy Seruhiko-sensei, the jolly Nijuin-sensei, the foreign Gandolfini-sensei but the worst of all were the pair of Takahata-sensei and Headmaster Konoe. All of them were looking at the pair of combatants with hard eyes and in the case of Gandolfini, a gun aimed in case they caused trouble.

"Ho, ho! Now what do we have here?" asked the aged headmaster.

"If I were to say this was just a misunderstanding, none of you would believe me, am I right?" asked Wizard. Fortunately, his helmet distorted his voice.

"Afraid not," Gandolfini frowned, aiming his gun at the pair with his finger on the trigger. "Now explain yourselves. Why have you cast a spell over this portion of the campus? Are you working together? For what purpose?"

"Hey, if you haven't noticed, I was about to finish this Phantom off!" Wizard cried out. "Please lower the barrier so I can end this!"

"Ho hum, we are not murderers, stranger," Konoemon chastised. "If this creature means us harm we will seal it and deal with it accordingly."

"HA!" the Cherub Phantom laughed. "Human magic has _never_ been able to beat the likes of us! You dummies actually think this can hold me? How about I prove you wrong?"

"I would just love to see you try," Seruhiko called the creature's bluff.

"Heh, heh, heh," the Cherub Phantom laughed. "Okay, but remember that you asked for it."

"No!" Wizard protested. He attempted to charge at the Phantom and end it with his blade, but another monolithic knight emerged from the seal and grabbed his ankles, pinning his movement. "Don't let it escape!"

The Cherub Phantom leaped into the air before its wings flashed and grew outward, becoming much larger with visible stone feathers and rubies encrusted in the joints. Laughing, the Phantom charged at the nearest knight. The teachers didn't move, honestly expecting nothing to happen as the Phantom struck the knight's torso. For a split second, the Phantom was held back but with a thrash of its wings the knight was shattered like crystal glass, knocking the teachers back as the Phantom soared away from the area, vanishing behind a building.

"No! Dammit!" Wizard cursed. "You idiots let that Phantom escape!" While he was normally polite, letting a Phantom escape was unforgivable.

"A Phantom?" asked Nijuin, standing up. "What's that?

"A myth and a ridiculous one at that," Gandolfini huffed as he recovered. "They're a groundless story of demons who are born if a magic user dies in the midst of despair. Tell us the truth intruder, what was that creature? Why are you both here?"

"I told you," Wizard frowned, "It's a Phantom!"

"Phantoms don't exist! They're just a myth!" Gandolfini shouted back.

"Well, a 'myth' just flew away!" Wizard snapped back. "It cast that spell on everyone here to manipulate events so that these people will give into despair and any of them capable of magic will die and be turned into Phantoms as well! Now if you aren't going to help me stop it then stay out of my way!"

Sighing, Gandolfini turned to the headmaster. "It seems an interrogation is in order, sir."

"Hmmm," Konoemon frowned, rolling the issue in his mind.

"I don't have time for this," said Wizard he slipped a yellow topaz ring onto his left hand before setting the Hand Author to point to the left. He put his left hand over it before pointing his palm to the ground.

"_**LAND, PLEASE! D-D-D-D-DO! DO D-D-DO!"**_

The yellow version of Wizard's magic circle appeared beneath his feet, rising up to cover him in his Land Style armour. The change complete, he set the Hand Author to the right before slipping on another ring.

"_**RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO! RUPATCHII MAJIKKU TATCHI GO! RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO!**_"

He activated it.

"_**DRILL, PLEASE!"**_

Magic circles rose up around him and he spun rapidly in place. The monolithic knight was shattered by the force of the rotation before the ground likewise shattered under Wizard's movement, letting him burrow deep down into the earth to escape.

"Stop him!" Gandolfini shouted. "Nijuin! Dismiss the spirits!"

As the knights vanished at the portly man's command, the remaining teachers swarmed the area to attempt to stop Wizard from escaping. Unfortunately, the armoured man was already gone and well outside their reach. Gandolfini began to bark orders for the other teachers to begin a search for both Wizard and the Phantom. The only two that weren't beginning to panic were Takahata and Konoemon, but their faces were indeed grim.

"Phantoms," the chain smoker frowned, taking out one of his favoured brand. "Hoped I'd never have to face one again."

"Indeed," Konoemon nodded. "I had prayed that they were extinct on this world, but it seemed those prayers have gone unanswered."

"Any ideas?" asked Takahata. "I don't know about you, but I can _maybe_ take one down. Magic and ki attacks just seem to slide off of them even if it's a direct hit. Then again, I shouldn't be surprised. They don't exactly follow the same rules of existence that we do."

"Indeed," Konoemon agreed. "I will have to do a search in my texts for ideas. The magical communities of the world are notoriously stubborn about admitting they exist. So much information about them was destroyed in fear of their return and not a thought about preserving it should they do indeed come back. A pity."

"And what about our mysterious stranger?" Takahata asked.

"I feel that he is this world's only hope against the Phantom menace," Konoemon spoke. "I only hope that we can work together without him or ourselves making a misunderstanding that will ruin our chances of survival."

**To Be Continued**

A/N: Well, chapter 2 for Mahou Ridaa Negima. We see a variation on the love potion incident and I think I mixed canon and creative liscense pretty well. Tell me what you guys think. This and my upcoming Fourze were my recent projects and they're the next volumes and Chrome and mine's Kamen Rider fics along the lines of Rosario + Kiva, Double Trouble, and Medals of Ikki Tousen. I haven't forgotten my other fics or anything like that, but these are to help placate my readers until I finish up what they _really_ want.


	3. Cupid's Last Kiss

I do not own Kamen Rider Wizard or Negima! I am only writing this for fun and not for any kind of profit. If you don't like the story then there's nothing stopping you from leaving this story. For those that remain, please enjoy my work and let me know what you think. I don't mind criticism so long as it helps me get better, but flaming me just because you don't like it is just annoying and immature.

**Mahou Ridaa Negima!**

**By Ten-Faced Paladin**

**Chapter 3: Cupid's Last Kiss**

Despite being a modern city, Mahora actually sported a rich European architecture that had been part of the founders' vision when they established the school and the town around it. As such, the city looked a little more rustic than say a place like Tokyo. The downside of that was the majority of the city was styled after European building ideas so the famous Japanese ability to maximize usage space in their buildings wasn't always easy to follow. Of course, it doubled as a benefit since there were so many open spaces for the people to enjoy, both indoors and outdoors. One such space was a public park which could be found close to Mahora's market centre a place where families and friends could get together and have fun.

Inside the park, there were few people around to enjoy it. Most adults were still in their last hours of work while the vast majority of the youths were busy with after school clubs or other activities. Time in the park would come later when the schoolchildren would come to play some games once their after-school cartoons were finished.

In one portion of the park, something strange began to occur which fortunately no one would be able to see. The grassy ground by a grove of trees began to bulge and grow with cracks spreading through them. There was a brief cracking noise before the cracks in the ground began to glow bright yellow. Another flash ripped through the soil and air before exploding, bringing out a spinning yellow drill which caused dirt, grass, and roots to fly through the air from the rapid rotation. The drill hung in the air before coming to a stop. The yellow energy faded away, leaving Wizard in his Land Style Form to land on his feet

"Well...that could have gone better," he sighed to himself, brushing some dirt off of his shoulders. "And the day started out so well too."

Wizard, or rather Negi's day hadn't been going as well as he planned. The morning was as expected with Asuna throwing her pillow at him for some reason or other. After that, he called on her to answer a question in class, which she couldn't to the amusement of her classmates. Embarrassed, she lost her temper and promptly began blaming Negi for it like he intended that to happen. She was so busy thrashing him around that her hair tickled his nose, causing him to sneeze and have his wind magic promptly shredded her clothes down to her underwear.

And that was just the beginning.

After the day had ended, that was when things truly became bizarre. When he tried to talk to Asuna and apologize for what happened, magically speaking Negi was promptly jumped by several of his students who proclaimed their undying love for him and begged him to love them back. He wasn't too ashamed to admit he fled for his life, pursued by a growing horde of amorous girls who demanded his body and heart for themselves. Even a shy girl like Nodoka and teachers such as Touko and Shizuka attempted to seduce him.

At first, Negi was a little too panicked to try and figure out what was going on. After all, a charging horde of women who likely had some not-so-innocent ideas for him which likely would result in his untimely demise due to exhaustion would make one panic slightly. Later, he easily guessed that some kind of magic was afoot but the only magic he could think of with such an effect was a love potion and he certainly didn't recall drinking anything that would have looked like one. They had a distinct flavour and taste after all even if you tried to hide it in something else.

It was Asuna who suggested it first: a Phantom. In retrospect, it seemed obvious. Spells that caused such chaos usually were made with ill intentions in mind. It certainly was one of the stranger Phantom plots he had encountered though. One that was affecting people on a massive scale.

"How to make them fall into despair though?" Wizard wondered. Snapping his fingers, a yellow magic circle passed over him and changed him back to his normal form as Negi Springfield. "Love obviously is part of the formula, but what is going to make them fall into despair over this?"

Negi managed to discover the Phantom thanks to the Garuda Plamonster, but he wasn't able to defeat it or even end the spell that it had cast. The chaos from the love spell had drawn in the attention of the magic-capable teachers and when they saw the fight they instantly erected a barrier that stopped the both of them from fighting. The Phantom, one styled after a Cherub, promptly used the opportunity to escape. Negi tried to plead his case, but just like back home the local magi population simply refused to believe and/or actively denied that Phantoms existed even if they saw the evidence staring them in the face. He likely wouldn't be getting help from them anytime soon. If they followed Gandolfini-sensei's lead, they were just as likely to attack him as they were any Phantoms that showed up.

Negi needed to figure out the Phantom's plan and put a stop to it, but right now he needed to get something to eat in order to replenish his mana. Hopefully he'd be able to pull that off without attracting another horde of love-struck women. At the very least, he learned that the Cherub Phantom's spell seemed localized on him rather than on an artefact or on the area.

It was a good thing that Negi managed to find a food truck that sold doughnuts, his favorite food. It was even better since there were no girls around to be affected by the spell the Cherub Phantom hit him with, even if the strangely flamboyant man at the counter was giving odd looks, likely because Negi was foreign. Ever since he started training with the Wizard Stone Rings he would periodically have cravings for the sweet treats. How they were capable of restoring his mana so quickly Negi still wasn't sure but he couldn't argue with the results. With a bag of donuts in hand, he took huge bites out of each one. They were just so delicious and his favorite kind of doughnut was plain sugar, simply doughnuts which have been sprinkled with powdered sugar. Hopefully, he would have an abundance of mana to use when he engaged the Cherub Phantom again.

With the amount he ate all the time, it was a miracle that he hadn't gotten fat by his teens. Negi decided to go find a place he could be alone and not get ambushed. Mahora was a big place. There had to be someplace he could be for some privacy. Under any normal circumstances, the library would've been a good choice for some privacy, but Nodoka would probably be waiting for him again there and she would try to kiss him, again.

The Cherub Phantom's plan wasn't exactly making sense. How was this spell going to cause despair? Who was the Gate? Or was this just random chaos for the Phantom's own amusement?

* * *

**Phantom Bar**

"So, you had a run in with Wizard," said Medusa as she and Phoenix sat at the bar counter in their human forms. Cherub was also in his barkeep disguise, pouring drinks.

"Yes, but I got away because those foolish magicians interfered. They weren't just ignorant, they were in denial," Cherub said in amusement.

"Heh! Those dorks don't want to admit we exist simply because of how evil our magic can be," Pheonix grinned. "They actually tried to erase us from history hoping that no one would be able to bring us to this world again!"

"Humans are so predictable," Medusa smirked. "When faced with something that they do not like, they go out of their way to ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist so that they don't have to deal with it. Even when shoved in their faces, they try to act like such pious people by denouncing or ignoring it thinking it would make the world a better place."

"Instead they erased any knowledge of us from what we are to summoning us, but they also forgot any means of beating us, dooming themselves since no defence exists," Cherub grinned.

"Yeah!" Phoenix agreed. "Easy pickings!"

"Except for Wizard, but he is just a boy and only one at that," Medusa shrugged. "Speaking of, how is your plan going Cherub?"

"Right as rain despite the Wizard showing up," Cherub replied, beginning to mix a martini. "As my target walks through the campus, more and more young women will hound him for his affections, becoming more and more insistent. Soon enough he will be unable to take it anymore and will try his best to get rid of them. For each one he dissuades, their hearts will be broken and filled with despair. Such a fragile thing, a lovestruck woman's heart."

"Hey, not a bad idea!" Phoenix grinned. "Easy and it pays off in the long run too!"

"When can we expect results then?" asked Medusa. "I'm getting impatient and so will Wiseman."

"That depends on the young man's self control but knowing teenagers this won't take too much longer," Cherub replied. "Raging hormones make for all sorts of mood swings."

"And then any Gates he runs into will turn into Phantoms!" Phoenix grinned.

"A good plan," Medusa nodded. "But make sure it gets results soon or else."

"You will not be disappointed Lady Medusa," Cherub smiled soothly.

* * *

**Mahora: Shopping District**

Negi was munching on the last of his doughnuts and trying to figure out a way to get back to his room without causing a riot with the residents. Just by letting a girl see him seemed to cause the spell to trigger and cause them to fall in love with him. So far he was sticking to back streets or places where there were absolutely no girls around, but the latter was rare compared to the former. When he stuck his head out of an alley to check if the coast was clear, a certain orangette who was huffing from a lot of running took notice.

"Here you are!" said Asuna as she spotted Negi. "Come with me!" Running up to him, she grabbed his wrist and began dragging him in the direction of...wherever it was she wanted to go.

"Asuna-san!?" Negi yelped.

"You left me alone with all those crazy lovesick girls!" she told him. All of the girls had been in riots, trying to find out where Negi had gone or in the case of a few like Ayaka, demanding her for the information of where he had gone.

"I was off fighting a Phantom, Asuna-san," he said.

"Yeah, but you're a wizard, right? Can't you whip out some kind of anti-love potion? Or something to stop everyone from going crazy?" she asked.

"The Phantom caused this, so destroying it is the only way," said Negi. Unless there was a Phantom that wished to end the spell (which was highly unlikely) then the only way to end a Phantom's power was to end the Phantom.

"And I'm assuming that you weren't able to," said Asuna. She didn't need this kind of weirdness around her and she just wanted it to end.

"No, I wasn't thanks to the school staff," Negi sighed, adjusting his glasses. "The magic-capable teachers on the campus found the fight and erected a barrier to stop us. Normal magic doesn't work very well on Phantoms so it escaped. I tried to explain, but the teachers didn't believe me and were set to blame me for the current crisis just as much as the Phantom. Of course, they refused to believe me on the Phantom front."

"What!? How can they deny what they saw for themselves!?" the orangette cried out, mad that her teachers would ignore such an obvious threat simply because they didn't like what it represented. Worse yet, they were ready to pin the blame on the one person who would actually do something about it.

"I told you, a lot of people don't want to believe Phantoms exist or ever existed," said Negi. "I don't like it anymore than you do but that's just how things are right now."

"OK, so this Phantom is making all the girls go nuts over you," Asuna sighed. "Why?"

"That's what I'd like to know," Negi shook his head. "Phantoms usually try to inspire despair not love, lust, or whatever this spell is."

"Love...love..." Asuna snapped her fingers. "I got it!"

"Huh?" Negi looked up.

"Think about it. Remember the letter I wrote for Takahata-sensei?" she asked.

"You mean the love letter?" he asked. And then he made a connection. "When the Phantom tore it apart, it broke your heart..." Negi's eyes widened in shock. "The Phantom is trying to break hearts by using me!"

"And nothing hurts worse than a broken heart. That would push anyone to the brink!" Asuna nodded. She remembered the short-haired Ako Izumi in her class. While not exactly chummy with the Nurse's Aide and manager of the junior high boys soccer team, Asuna couldn't help but hear how she tried confessing to a boy she liked but got shot down. The girl was in a deep funk about it that took awhile for her friends to get her out of. If a Phantom was pulling the strings this time, then it would likely be ten times worse. Asuna may not have been the perfect example of being book smart, but she had common sense. That was something a lot of people in both the modern and magical worlds seemed to lack now and then.

"So the plan was to be...push me to the brink with girls chasing me and make me reject them, causing any Gates to drop into despair?" ased Negi, trying to figure out the Phantom's logic.

"If a bunch of lovesick guys were chasing me around I'd tell them to buzz off real quick," Asuna nodded. "I guess the Phantom thought that you'd end up losing it and doing the same. The only thing is that you're too much if a nice guy to simply yell at girls who want your attention."

"I prefer the term gentleman," Negi sighed. "But you're right. I wouldn't do things like that to any girl. In a situation like this, I'm more likely to run."

"Then you're going to have to keep doing that unless you take that thing down," Asuna frowned. She then blinked in realization, "Oh wait, I found these." She ruffled through her pocket before revealing the red, blue, and yellow rings for the Plamonsters. "After you left, the red one disappeared and when I came looking for you the other two showed up and did the same. All that's left is these."

"Oh, they ran out of magic," Negi nodded, retaking the rings. "They only have so much power in them before they vanish. Either I recharge them when they come looking for me or they disappear like that."

"Aren't you afraid of losing them?" asked the orangette.

"The funny thing about them is that even if they disappear and I'm not around, they somehow end up back in my pockets," Negi shrugged. "I'm still trying to figure out how they do that."

"Okay, so how do we find this Phantom and stop it?"

"The same way we did before," Negi replied, slipping the rings onto his fingers. He then brought them to his belt.

"_**GARUDA, PLEASE!**_"

"_**UNICORN, PLEASE!**_"

"_**KRAKEN, PLEASE!**_"

In a trio of lights, the Plamonsters appeared in their casings before assembling themselves. Negi then slipped the rings into their bodies, bringing them to life once more.

"Find the Phantom again. It's styled like a Cherub. Go!" he ordered simply. The trio of monsters gave nods of confirmation before they took off through the air or ground, beginning the search.

"So do we wait now or what?" asked Asuna.

"It's all we can do," Negi shrugged. "I have a crystal ball at home which will react when a Phantom attacks, but I'm no good at using it to try and detect them. My friend Anya was much more skilled at it than I was."

"Crystal ball huh?" Asuna raised an eyebrow. "Konoka's pretty handy with those. Want to have her give it a shot? She wouldn't say no to you, especially now."

"I'd rather not expose my secret unless I have to," Negi replied blandly. "Besides, mundane and magical methods of using them are vastly different."

"I offered," Asuna shrugged.

"Appreciated," Negi nodded. "But no thank-you. What I would like is a place to rest. I'm hoping I can just go back to the dorm, but I sincerely doubt that will happen."

"Yeah, not with every girl that so much as glances at you falling in love with you," Asuna snorted. "You'd start a riot just walking through the door."

"I'm going to need a way to sneak inside." And that was when Negi got an idea.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this," grumbled Asuna.

Riding in her jacket's breast pocket was a miniaturised Negi. Since he wanted to simply hole up in his room but unable to do so since girls surrounded the space, he was effectively barred. His idea was to use a Wizard Stone Ring known as Small. Using it, Negi had shrunk down into a form no bigger than a small figurine from a gatchapon. Asuna was carrying him inside her pocket through the dorms and so far it seemed to be working.

It was slightly chaotic in the dorms, all of the affected girls actually making posters of Negi and sighing over them. Ayaka had a bunch of girls making a statue of Negi posing as Michelangelo's David. Seeing that was mortifying enough for all parties who weren't magically doped up.

"It's working though!" Negi insisted, gripping the front of Asuna's pocket so not to fall back or fall out.

"Just remember the deal," Asuna whispered. "You touch behind you and I'll crush you like a stress ball. I don't even want you to think of hugging my boob like a full body pillow."

"I heard you the first three times," Negi sighed.

Asuna managed to reach her room and enter. Inside was Konoka giggling like she was drunk while snuggling with one of Negi's jackets like a teddy bear. Asuna sweatdropped at the scene, once again weirded out by what magic brought into her life.

"Ah, Asuna!" Konoka beamed. "Don't you think Negi-kun will look great as my groom?"

"Yeah, sure, of course," said Asuna, nodding. Okay, maybe without Negi around to cause chaos Konoka might be willing to listen to some common sense. "But you're still young. Maybe you should wait a bit more?"

"No! As soon as I see Negi-kun again, I'm taking him home to be my husband!" Konoka declared with determination radiating from her eyes. "Gandpa will be so happy I'm finally engaged and Daddy will just love Negi-kun!"

Asuna sweatdropped. So much for common sense.

"I think I'd better stay small for now," Negi muttered.

"Yeah, good plan," Asuna agreed. If this kept up then Negi was going to have to sleep in her pocket for the night. What he was supposed to do when he was going to teach their class tomorrow she wasn't sure. Another riot would not be a good thing to deal with.

Negi was starting to wish he had his familiar Chamo with him now. Wait, on second thought the ermine would just praise Negi for his 'fortune'. Whenever it came to girls, the little fuzzball always made a pest of himself rather than helping a situation. It was the reason why Negi hadn't brought him along when he left for Japan. That and he was on the run for stealing panties again.

"Well, whatever," Asuna finally sighed, scratching her head. "I have homework to do."

"If Negi-kun was here he'd help," Konoka giggled.

"...yeah, right," Asuna grimaced, glancing at her pocket. Negi chuckled nervously.

* * *

The night passed and everyone slept, most of the girls in the form dreaming naughty dreams about Negi. Still, time marched on for everyone and soon a new day dawned. Asuna took the time to sleep in a little since she got a day off but Konoka woke up bright and early. She made a quick breakfast before she headed out for school, several hours early so she could try and track down Negi before any of the other girls after him could.

"Well, Konoka's gone," said Asuna, looking up from her bed. She had been pretending to sleep, not wanting to attract Konoka's crazy attentions. "That's one problem we don't have to deal with."

"That's good," said Negi, his voice filled with relief. Over hanging on her chair was Asuna's uniform coat. It wiggled slightly before Negi crawled out, jumping to the floor. His body flashed before growing back up to its normal height. Yawning, he rubbed his eyes. "The tailors who make your jackets should be commended. They're very comfortable."

"I'll write a recommendation," Asuna grumped, pulling herself out of bed. "So, how are you gonna go out without getting mobbed?" She did not want to have a repeat of yesterday go on so early in the morning.

"This," said Negi as he put his hand across the Hand Author, the Wizard Ring flashing as it activated.

"_**COPY, PLEASE!**_"

His magic circle appeared over him as another floated next to it. Both magic circles came down and Asuna was taken aback as the other circle produced a copy of Negi. Both stood in the exact same posture, moving perfectly in synch.

"A clone?" Asuna blinked and she poked the copy's cheek, making it wince. "Wow, do you have rings for everything?"

"It depends on my ring maker," said Negi. He gave his copy a pat on the back. "I'm counting on you."

"One distraction," Copy Negi nodded. "I assume that you'll be hunting for the Phantom while I'm off distracting your numerous suitors?"

"Don't worry. You won't be going in alone," said Negi and he put his hand across his Hand Author again.

"_**COPY, PLEASE!**_"

Asuna watched as Negi used his ring a second time, this time three circles appearing before passing over the pair of teenage boys, creating two clones instead of one like before. Negi then used the ring a third time, making another four clones, almost crowding the room with eight Negis.

"Alright," the real Negi spoke up, capturing the attention of his clones. "All of you are to distract my admirers for the day. One of you takes over my classes while the rest of you make sure the other girls in the school do not go wild. Distract them, lure them away, whatever it takes to keep another riot from happening. I'll be hunting the Cherub Phantom and hopefully we'll be able to end this before something bad happens again."

"Yessir!" the clones called out as one.

* * *

**Class 2-A**

Mana sat at her desk, keeping an eye on her classmates and their activities, the majority of them were cooing over pictures of their homeroom teacher or things he had touched. She hadn't been present since she had biathlon practice. When she returned to the dorms, she found all over fellow students positively enchanted by her homeroom teacher. She suspected something was amiss. You'd have to be downright ignorant not to suspect something. Later that night Takahata-Sensei and the Headmaster had called her to his office and explained to her that the campus had been assaulted by what official reports would call a Cherub-like creature who was being attacked by an unknown masked magic user who specialized in Wizard Ring magic. Of course, Mana was briefed on what the creature was unofficially speaking.

A Phantom.

Unlike many people who were involved in the magical world, Mana knew of Phantoms and believed that they were real in spite of what the general magical community wanted to believe. Denying the existence of something did not make it go away. People who wanted to deal with the worst the world had to offer would always find a way of discovering. Someone, somewhere would have either preserved a way to try and summon Phantoms or discovered a means of bringing them to Earth. One coming to Mahora was disturbing since they existed to hunt down magic-capable people or Gates and drown them in despair to turn them into Phantoms. In a place such as Mahora where magic was abundant even in the mundane operations, people who were capable of magic were numerous and a veritable breeding ground for Phantoms.

The Headmaster explained that the Phantom had cast some kind of spell which caused the girls in the school to fall in love with Negi. The boy had vanished, likely gone into hiding considering the situation. Mana had been tasked with location the Phantom and dealing with as well as locate the ring-wielding masked wizard and question him. He was to be considered a third neutral party unless he shows himself otherwise. Mana's method of battle offered some advantages dealing with Phantoms. Mana had a large supply of specialty bullets which could deal with various magical monsters. What documents the Headmaster had that he preserved showed some methods of battling Phantoms, mainly how silver was something which the Phantoms couldn't stand. Of course, Mana was already well-stocked with silver bullets. Her only task was to find the Phantom. Her strategy to do such was to wait in the thick of the mass of affected girls and see if she could spy the Phantom who was likely nearby, monitoring all of the victims to see which would be turned into Phantoms. Thus why she was in class rather than out hunting for the Phantom as was her normal methods.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of a sliding door. Looking up, she spotted Asuna stepping into the room with Negi-sensei following close behind.

"Good morning Negi-sensei!" the adoring girls called out with flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes.

Mana played along as a normal student, but she knew that it was not Negi-sensei that she was looking at. Mana's senses were always sharp and she knew right away that this was a sentient construct made from mana. His presence was too light in the room, his actions too rehearsed, and he wasn't giving off the usual signals of a human being would when near her, magic or mundane. If she had to guess, knowing Negi-sensei's reputation in magic, her teacher had made a construct of himself to go to the class while he tried to prevent whatever magic affected his students from activating again or even try to figure out how to stop it.

'_Clever idea Sensei,_' Mana admitted, watching as the copy began the lesson. She still kept one eye on the window, ready to pull out her (airsoft) pistols from her book bag to use in case that Phantom came to try and finish its work.

* * *

**Mahora**

While his clones were busy covering for him in class and making sure that the affected girls weren't going to riot again, Negi was busy exploring Mahora. Because of whatever it was that the Phantom had done to him was likely still in effect so he had to be careful since he didn't want to accidentally entice more women just by having them look at his face. To avoid that, he kept to the rooftops to avoid being seen by anybody. He had the Plamonsters patrolling the area, periodically returning to him to recharge on mana and report if they had seen anything odd.

So far they hadn't seen anything off which only made Negi more nervous. If the Phantom wasn't even around to try and admire its work then it was waiting for the right time to strike. It was likely waiting for the maximum amount of girls to be affected by the spell before it would swoop in and finish the job, transforming who knew how many unfortunate girls into Phantoms.

He had to find that Phantom, fast!

* * *

**Phantom Bar**

Back in the bar, Medusa and Phoenix sat at the counter as Cherub was making them drinks. The pair of Chief Phantoms lounged on their stools, Phoenix taking part in the drinks more than Medusa did while Cherub kept the liquor line running.

"So, what do you plan on doing today?" asked Medusa, sipping from a martini glass.

"Well, I plan on waiting for those girls to fall into despair once they discover that their teacher does not reciprocate their feelings. When their hearts break they'll be in so much despair that we'll have plenty of Phantoms born just from that," said Cherub. Suddenly, the glasses and bottles in the shelf behind him shattered to pieces. He flinched from the glass and booze hitting his back, looking to his leaders, "What!?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't like that plan. It doesn't show initiative," said Medusa with her eyes glowing violet.

"Hey, buddy," grinned Phoenix. "If you wanna make all those lovey-dovey girls fall into despair, just kill the guy they're in love with!"

His female partner blinked. "Phoenix, I'm surprised you could think up such an idea," Medusa approved. Turning to the bartender again, she ordered, "Cherub, kill the object of these Gates' affection."

"Right away, Medusa-sama!" obeyed Cherub nervously.

"And take these Ghoul Stones too," said Phoenix as he passed a handful of the enchanted rocks over to Cherub like a patron giving the bartender a tip. "You're gonna need em."

"I shall begin immediately," Cherub nodded, pocketing the stones before turning to head for the exit. Phoenix may have been an easy going boss, but when Medusa ordered something then it was in one's best interest to obey.

* * *

**Mahora**

Negi thanked the man at the doughnut shop for the goods, trying not to notice the rather flamboyant man's glances as he took said treats. It was bad enough that one of the girls baking said doughnuts left heart-shaped sprinkles on them. Nodding at her waving made her pass out in delight.

Walking out of the store, a squeaking caught his attention. Looking to the side, he spotted the Kraken Plamonster stuck to the window in front of the doughnut shop waving a tentacle to get his attention.

"Ah," Negi sighed, walking to the Plamonster he plucked it off the glass, "Anything to report?"

* * *

**Mahora Gakuen**

Negi Clone #7 was doing some rounds by the gymnasium, running interference in case any of the girls from yesterday were on the prowl. So far things had been peaceful since it seemed like none of the girls who were enchanted were working in their gym classes. That or none of them had noticed him since whatever the spell was that had affected the original didn't affect the clones.

#7 walked by some tennis courts which were being unused for the time being. He idly wondered if he would be able to play sometime if the original made a clone to battle with but quickly discarded it since it wasn't an appropriate time. He was supposed to be on the lookout for girls about to riot. Just because things were peaceful now didn't mean that they would stay that way.

*KLANG!*

"Huh?" #7 blinked, looking to what sounded like a ball hitting a fence. Looking to the tennis courts again, he tried to see if someone had begun playing or something. When he didn't see anyone in the courts, he scratched his head wondering what happened. He didn't feel any wind which might have done that, what had-?

*TWANG!*

#7 didn't have any further thoughts when something pierced his back from above. Rather than being run through by what hit him, his body vanished into a flash of magic that disappeared like mist. The item which had pierced him, a jet black arrow with an ornate heart-shaped tip clattered to the ground.

Up above the clone's final resting place standing on the fence which surrounded the tennis courts stood the Cherub Phantom. In its hand was its bow but it was far from pleased with the fact that it had killed a clone rather than Negi himself.

"A clone? Are you kidding me?" the Cherub Phantom growled. "Don't tell me the Wizard put him into hiding!"

It seemed that the Wizard was onto his plan. This was going to make his job much harder than it was supposed to be. However, it wouldn't be impossible to accomplish. The Wizard couldn't hide his target for long and the Cherub Phantom will get his target. He never missed.

* * *

**Mahora**

Negi finished the last of his final doughnut as he threw the bag into a trash can. The Kraken Plamonster had given no new news so the Phantom was still nowhere to be found. He sent the yellow familiar off to search for the Phantom once again.

Suddenly, a chill went down his spine. Shivering, rubbed his arms to get the chill from his bones.

"I hope that doesn't mean someone was talking about doing something bad to me," Negi grimaced.

Likely someone did, but it was nice not to think about it.

* * *

**Mahora Gakuen**

Negi clone #6 patrolled the grounds near the front of the school in a continuous circuit which a section of had been the area which the original and the Cherub Phantom had battled one another before the other magical teachers had gotten involved. #6 had been hoping that his path would help him keep an eye out for enchanted girls as well as the Phantom itself. So far, it had turned up no enchanted girls since they thankfully went into class but it also turned up no Phantom and he got to examine the sight of yesterday's battle if only to see what the original had done.

"Not twenty-four hours and they already have the damage repaired," #6 nodded. "The Headmaster certainly has some talent on his side, I can see that much."

Walking down the sidewalk, feeling somewhat secure in his position at the moment the clone decided to head towards another section of the school. Perhaps one of the others would like to switch with him if things got-!

*TWANG!*

Clone #6's life was immediately cut short by a black arrow which struck him in the neck from behind. No blood spurt from the blow, but his body did vanish into another dissipating cloud of magic that vanished into the wind, leaving the arrow to clatter to the ground.

"Another one?" the Charub Phantom sighed, standing atop of a lamp post with unnatural balance. Lowering his bow, he growled in agitation. "How many copies did the Wizard make?" Cursing to himself, the Phantom unfurled his wings and took off to try and find his target again.

* * *

**Mahora**

"ACHOO!" Negi sneezed violently. Shaking his head, he cleared out his sinuses. "Whew, that chill must be worse that I thought."

* * *

**Mahora Gakuen**

Negi Clone #5 stood on the rooftop of the school, trying to keep an eye from above on the campus grounds. So far he wasn't seeing any kind of mischief although he did spot a student or two skipping class. He'd have to let the original know so they could try and get the teachers on truancy duty on the case later.

He hadn't seen any riots going on so perhaps the girls were going on their usual schedules unless they saw him. In that case he hoped that 2-A didn't turn into the den of chaos that the original feared while he was under the Phantom's spell.

"Well, nothing going on here," the copy sighed to himself. "Best to check on the other rooftop courts to be safe."

"Alright! Another one!"

The clone looked up where he heard the voice coming from. His eyes widened in shock when he saw the Cherub Phantom hanging in the sky above. In its hands was its bow with a black arrow notched back. The clone immediately moved, bringing his hand to his belt to begin his transformation. The noise of battle would attract the original and they would be able to end this madness.

"No running!" the Cherub Phantom shouted, unleashing his arrow.

*TWANG!*

Under normal circumstances, Negi and his clones would be perfectly capable of dodging such an attack...were they in peak position. It had been some time since he had been conjured and he had been burning through his mana ever since. As such, he was slightly sluggish. To that effect, the arrow managed to pierce into his shoulder with fearsome force, running straight through him. A painful blow to be sure, but for a clone it merely caused the image of Negi Springfield to vanish into the ether once again.

"Oh come on!" the Cherub Phantom shouted in frustration.

* * *

**Mahora**

Negi trembled once again as he felt a sudden chill, "Are the seasons changing already?"

* * *

**Mahora Gakuen**

Negi Clone #4 was at the moment supposed to be helping patrol the school in his assigned task. However, that certain event was not happening with him. It wasn't that he didn't want to do his part and help stop the madness, but the current situation for him had more or less cut off any means of actually going ahead.

"Don't be shy Negi-kun."

"Yes. Relax a little."

The clone of the teenage teacher was at the moment trapped between the cooing forms of Touko-sensei and Shizuna-sensei. The two women had cornered him when he was examining the library (for clues! Not out of a personal sense of curiosity!) and dragged him off to one of the couches in the room before trapping him between their voluptuous forms. So there he was, trapped between the two adult women as they caressed his chest and made sure their breasts were pressed up against him as much as possible. A tempting position for any young man to be in, but the clone was a gentleman! He wasn't about to take advantage of a pair of women no matter how much they wanted him to!

It didn't help that both women were dressed rather provocatively. Touko-sensei was wearing a simply blouse that was quite tight on her with her jacket and an indecently short skirt that showed off a bit of her garters. Shizuna was just as bad with a sweater that was quite low-cut and with a woman of her figure, had a lot of cleavage to show. Add in her own revealing short skirt and the clone of the teenage teacher knew he was in trouble.

"Say Negi-kun," Touko purred, leaning in close to the clone's ear. "I added a little something _special_ to my outfit today. Care to see?"

"Uh...special?" the clone asked.

"Yes," Touko smiled. Reaching up to her blouse, she began undoing the buttons, revealing glimpses of black lace underneath.

"Ulp!" the clone gulped.

"Great minds think alike it seems," Shizuna giggled, pulling the edge of her sweater away to show off some black lace of her own. "We match."

'_Oh dear lord,_' the clone groaned internally. He looked around for some sort of distraction so he could get out from his soft and increasingly distracting prison. He tried gazing out the window at the opposite end of the room in the vain hope of distracting himself from the women at his sides. Hi seyes imediately landed on a flying figure outside the glass, '_Wait, isn't that...?_'

*TWANG!*

*CRASH!*

*THUNK!*

The black arrow came hurtling through the window and struck the clone right in the middle of the forehead. Fortunately, it was a clone and it simply vanished and left the black arrow stuck into the couch and two very shocked women on either side of it.

"Negi-kun!" Shizuna screamed. "Wh-wh-what happened to Negi-kun?-!"

"He left a fake..." Touko gaped, understanding magic and realizing that she had been trying to seduce a clone. Her shock turned to anger when she realized that someone had just killed it. "Someone's trying to hurt my Negi-kun!"

"What?-!" Shizuna gasped.

Touko leaped to her feet, too angry to even button up her blouse. She picked up her sword from where she discarded it for her seduction ploy. The woman was out for blood now with the object of her affections being threatened. She immediately dashed from the library, Shizuna trying to follow and fix her sweater at the same time while trying to get answers from her friend.

They didn't hear the cursing coming from the figure hovering outside.

* * *

**Mahora**

Negi finished recharging the Plamonsters once again when he felt horribly cheated for some inexplicable reason.

* * *

**Mahora Gakuen**

Negi Clone #3 walked out by the gymnasium area where the gym classes and sports teams would normally be busy working out. In an ideal world, he would have been able to do his patrol and go to meet one of the other clones to compare any notes.

But this was not ideal.

"NEGI-KUN! WE LOVE YOU!"

"Bwaaaa!" the clone screamed as he ran around the track, being chased by the Mahora Track Team that had a free period. The clone couldn't quite recall when the original ran into them the day previously, likely when he had been running through the halls to escape from 2-A. When he met them wasn't the case though since it was obvious they were enchanted and seeing the clone's face had gotten them into a frenzy once again. Still, the clone put on a brave face and kept the incident contained by running around the racetrack to keep the girls from running amok.

He didn't need the team coach asking him to keep it up since most of the team had broken their best times though.

'_Hopefully this draws in the original and the Phantom,_' #3 prayed. If the Phantom thought that his spell was working again, he'd likely come to see the chaos. In that case, the clone would fight and it would draw in the original to finish the job.

"How many of you guys _are_ there?-!"

"Huh?" the clone looked up, hearing a voice from above. He didn't see who had spoken. Instead, he saw a black arrow coming down between his eyes.

*POOF!*

Once again, the image of Negi vanished into magical residue and leaving a team of confused, shocked, and upset girls.

"DAMMIT!"

* * *

**Mahora**

"Hm?" Negi blinked, looking up from yet another doughnut. Did he just hear someone cursing?

* * *

**Mahora Gakuen - Class 2-A**

Negi Clone #2 sighed as his last class for the day finally ended. It had been nerve wracking watching the lustful eyes of his numerous students. Not all of them were under the spell of the Cherub Phantom, but being one of the few teenage boys in constant contact with a school for girls only tended to bring lustful looks on normal days. In some cases, the clone wasn't too sure if the girls staring at him were under the Phantom's spell or not.

Still, the fact he didn't have to patrol the school and instead concentrate on his work as a teacher was somewhat relacing. He didn't have to hunt down riots or Phantoms which was in itself soothing. He could have done without the lustful stares but he could get around that.

"Negi-sensei!" a female voice cooed. The clone looked up and noticed that a number of his female students were waiting outside the classroom for him. The interesting thing though was that they weren't all from the same class.

Sighing quietly, Clone #2 shuffled his papers and stacked them up to remain neat. It seemed duty called and that duty was to keep the affected girls from rioting again. '_Here goes..._'

He walked towards the girls, ready for whatever questions they might have be they normal or...racy...

*TWANG!*

"Huh?" Clone #2 blinked. Now that was an odd sound...

*CRASH*

*THUNK!*

"NEGI-SENSEI!" the collected girls screamed in horror as they watched a black heart-tipped arrow pierce their beloved teacher's back and come out through his torso. The scene froze for the horrified girls before the teenager vanished into a flare of light. The collected females blinked at what they saw.

"Did...did that just happen?" asked one.

"I think so...but where did Negi-sensei go?" asked another.

"Do you think it was a hologram?" asked a third. "My older brother works with the engineering department. Holograms are the big thing right now. Maybe they asked Negi-sensei to test one?"

"Yeah, that must be it," nodded a fourth, the other girls agreeing with her.

As the girls left the room to see if they could hunt down their common love/lust interest, they didn't hear another aggravated scream coming from outside, heard only by a silver-haired ghost girl who remained in the classroom, understandably stunned and frightened at what had just happened.

* * *

**Mahora**

"Well this has been a disappointment," Negi sighed, collecting the Kraken, Garuda, and Unicorn Rings as their constructs dissolved into magical ether once again. He had been exploring the city all day and aside from finding a few stores that he was interested in looking through later, he and the Plamonsters had come up with absolutely nothing. His only course of action at this point was to go back to the school and meet up with his clones and see what they had found out, if anything.

Snagging another doughnut for the road and top off his mana, Negi headed back towards Konoha Gakuen. The school day was over so likely anyone who saw him there would just assume he was taking a walk before dealing with his after-school duties. A bit of stealth might be needed to avoid getting the enchanted girls to riot over him again. If nothing else, Negi was beginning to feel the wear on his patience with the spell that the Cherub Phantom had cast on him.

Approaching the school, he saw the building looking as peaceful as ever. It didn't look like any love-struck related riots had broken out. It was with that optimism that Negi approached, swallowing the last of his doughnut. "Maybe Asuna and the clones will have something to tell me."

"Hah! Found you!"

Negi flinched and looked to the source of the voice, spotting the Cherub Phantom in triumph on the edge of the school roof. He had spent the day destroying Negi's clones but right now he was feeling lucky. He'd seen Negi eat a donut and magical clones had no need to eat, so that could only mean that this was the genuine article.

"I've been killing you all day you brat!" the Cherub Phantom snapped. "The Wizard made a good plan, making that many clones but you should have just stayed away instead of coming where I could find you! Now hold still!" The Cherub Phantom then held up both hands, filled with familiar round stones which it threw to the ground around Negi. Like clockwork, the stoned bulged and grew, taking the forms of the ever familiar and annoying Ghouls. All of them grunted and hissed, raising their weapons.

Negi found himself surrounded by Ghouls as the Cherub Phantom flew down the ground, hefting its bow over its shoulder. "You know, the original plan was for you to get fed up with the girls chasing you and you tell them off, breaking their hearts. Of course, you proved to be too much of a pushover for that. So now just killing you cause the Gates I affected with my spell to fall into despair, birthing a whole mob of Phantoms for Wiseman's plans!"

"Finally lost patience did you?" Negi frowned, preparing to activate his Driver. However, two Ghouls leaped at him and grabbed his arms, tightly. "Hey, let go!"

"Now, prepare to die," said the Cherub Phantom, loading up another black arrow, aiming to pierce Negi in the heart. The arrow was pulled back to the limit, the string groaning when the limit was reached. But before the arrow and killing blow could be fired, a gunshot was heard before spars exploded from the kaijin's hand. The Phantom cried out as he clutched his hand, his weapon lying on the ground. "What!?"

Several more gunshots rang through the air, hitting the Ghouls. The ones holding Negi was also forced to released him. Gunshots rang out further, striking the Ghouls over and over again, leaving holes in their bodies that made them grunt in pain with smoke coming from the new holes.

"Gr! Gah!" the Cherub Phantom snarled as it dug the offending bullet out of its hand. Examining the bit of metal, it grimaced as more smoke came from it's fingertips. "Silver bullets?-! Who the hell shoots silver bullets in this day and age?-!"

"A girl likes to be prepared for all occcasions," a calm voice spoke from the corner of the school. Negi and the Cherub Phantom looked and saw one of the corner windows open. Leaning halfway out of the window was a young woman who Negi easily recognized as one of his homeroom students.

"Tatsumiya-san?" Negi blinked.

The tanned girl smirked, still wearing her school uniform but holding what looked like a pair of high-powered handguns which the barrels were still smoking from all of the shots that she had fired into the Ghouls and Phantom. She casually flipped out of the window and landed on the grass, her guns still aimed at the mob of monsters.

"I'll put this rescue as a freebie," Mana spoke. "Next time it'll cost you though."

Negi blinked, quite stunned, "...much obliged..."

"This isn't any of your business human!" the Cherub Phantom snarled, plucking his bow back up. "Stay out of things that don't concern you!"

"When a Phantom and it's cronies begin infesting the campus, it makes my employers nervous," Mana explained, not once lowering her weapons or removing her eyes from her targets. "What makes my employers nervous gets my attention. Things that get my attention, especially the bad ones, tend to have bad days."

Negi was of course confused. On one hand one of his students had abruptly saved him by shooting the Phantom and Ghouls silver bullets and even knew what Phantoms were. On a side not, Negi noticed that Mana did not seem to be under the influence of the love spell that the Phantom had cast on him. In fact, the Phantom seemed to be aware of that as well.

"Wait," it growled. "Why aren't you going gaga over the boy? I cursed him so that any woman who sees him goes crazy!"

"But I'm not looking at him," Mana replied. "I'm looking at you. I'm trained on how to perceive everything on a battlefield but it comes in handy to know how to ignore things as well. Now hold still let let me earn my pay."

The answer made sense to Negi and it fit with what he knew of the spell. So long as a woman looked at him, they would be put under the spell. If Mana planned to fight though, the Phantom could force her to look at him and put her under the spell and compromise her abilities. Negi grimaced at the situation, realizing that he was at a crossroads now.

Ever since he was old enough to understand, Negi had been told by his sister, his mentors, and his teachers that his magic was to be kept a secret from the mundane world at all costs. Humans were just not capable of understanding magic and accepting it as part of their world. Revealing it could start events like the Salem Witch Trials all over again or possibly even worse. Yes, some mundane humans would accept it and could even be trusted with it but the chances were not good that it would happen.

The White Wizard on the other hand, while believing that secrecy was indeed needed in the world of magic did not believe that it should be a universal rule to the lives of magic users. He especially stressed that for the likes of Wizard Stone users and Magister Magi, secrecy sometimes had to take second place if they were going to be in the business of saving lives and destroying evil. You wouldn't always be in favorable situations in which you could keep your secrets as well as save lives. At one point, you had to pick one over the other and unfortunately, magical society as a whole tended to view secrets as more important than safety.

Negi stood at that crossroad between secrets and safety once again. He made the choice with Asuna easily because she learned about magic on her own and this he could trust her with Wizard. Now though he was faced with Mana who was apparently working for who he hoped was the school which was run by magicals who would likely try to blame him as much as they would the Phantom, not that they would admit the Phantom would exist. Revealing his secret to her would risk having his rings taken away and having his powers as Wizard taken away forever, possibly ending his career as a Magister Magi before it could begin.

Negi understood the crossroads he was at...and made a choice

"_**DRIVER ON, PLEASE!**_"

"_**SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN! SHABADOOBIE TATCHI HENSHIN! SHABADOOBIE TATSHI HENSHIN!**_"

Holding up his left hand, Negi adorned his green triangular ring before slipping the 'face' over its emerald surface, "Henshin!"

"_**HURRICANE, PLEASE! FUU, FUU FUU! FUU, FUU FUU FUU!**_"

The green magic circle appeared over Negi's head before passing over him, forming into the green Hurricane Style armour of Wizard that the Phantoms knew and loathed so much.

"What?-!" the Cherub Phantom gaped. "You mean I tagged the Wizard himself? Oh come on!"

"Hm?" Mana dared to look at her transformed teacher, relieved that apparently whatever the Phantom had done to him didn't seem to work when he transformed. "Interesting."

"Normally I'm not the vindictive type," Wizard admitted, swapping out the ring on his right hand. "But I have had a bad two days and you seem to be a convenient target to take it out on." He then activated the Hand Author once again.

"_**RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO! RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO! RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO!**_"

Wizard then passed his ring over the stone.

"_**CONNECT, PLEASE!**_"

The familiar magic ring appeared next to Wizard, allowing him to place his hand inside of it before drawing out the WizarSwordGun and shifting it into it's sword configuration. Raising the weapon, he eyed the Ghouls that were recovering from their wounds from Mana's bullets and looking mighty pissed about what had happened.

As one, the Ghouls charged at Wizard, but some broke off from the group to charge at Mana. The bronze-skinned beauty smirked and charged back at the stone monsters, unleashing several shots as she went, smashing through the hides of the Ghouls as she got closer. One Ghoul managed to overcome the pain long enough to stab at her with its weapon. Mana's experience shone through as she actually kicked off of the Ghouls weapon, flipping over the group of four, shooting at them as she moved over before rolling across the ground behind them. The Ghouls gave off screeches before exploding, the bits of rock flying in all directions as they did so.

On his own side, Wizard was handling himself well. Hurricane Style not only increased Wizard's speed, but granted him the power of flight, so it wasn't odd to see him glide across the ground and knock the Ghouls down with his sword. Sparks flew as his blade made contact with their stony skin and they seemed hurt. However, they recovered quickly to attack him again. Ducking underneath the next attack, he shifted the WizarSwordGun into its gun form and began unleashing salvos of bullets, knocking the Ghouls back. Dodging past more strikes, he dipped past another Ghoul before he found himself back to back with Mana.

"Don't think you're all that! Take this!" the Cherub Phantom growled, tossing another handful of Ghoul Stones at the pair, spawning more Ghouls fresh to fight.

Wizard and Mana both watched as the Ghouls began to circle around them once again. Mana raised an eyebrow as the number of enemies grew.

"Might get tough," she commented. "How are you on silver bullets?"

"As many as I need," Wizard replied. "You?"

"Two clips left," Mana answered. "They're expensive and I didn't expect to use them before my next shipment came in."

"Noted," Wizard nodded. he quickly replaced the ring on his left hand. So bullets were in short supply eh? "Maybe I can ease the strain then." He grabbed the thumb of the Hand Author on his WizarSwordGun, opening the palm.

"_**C'MON AND SHOOT, SHAKE HANDS!"**_

Wizard put his right hand in the WizarSwordGun's Hand Author.

"_**COPY, PLEASE!"**_

A copy of the WizarSwordGun appeared in his free hand once the spell was cast. Gripping two weapons in his hands, he raised them up in preparation to fire. Mana smirked and did the same with her own handguns. The Ghouls immediately took it as a signal to attack and lunged with screeches. Mana and Wizard began unleashing vollies of silver bullets into their attackers. Twisting on the spot, the duo plugged each of the Ghouls several times over with their rounds. One by one, the Ghouls fell and exploded into a ring of fire that faded quickly, leaving Mana and Wizard pointing their guns at the Cherub Phantom.

"Your turn," Wizard spoke.

"So it is," the Cherub Phantom. Hefting up his bow, he manifested two black arrows and strung them back before unleashing them at the same time. The black arrows cut through the air but Mana and Wizard were already on the move, one using his wind abilities to dodge while the other had trained reflexes. Both quickly retaliated by shooting at the Phantom, preventing it from firing more arrows.

The Cherub Phantom took flight, reloading more arrows and launching them at the pair of targets who were quickly making its life hell. Black arrows flew down like rain, causing Mana and Wizard to dodge in all directions before taking cover behind trees, letting the black steel bury itself into the wood.

"Reminds me of some of my more interesting jobs," Mana spoke coolly as if she had been in such situations before. "I wasn't expecting action like this until later in the semester."

"Happens to me all the time," Wizard sighed. Well, he wasn't always used to having someone there to help him out so he may as well make the most of it. "Can you cover me?"

Mana dropped a clip from her handguns and quickly reloaded them, "Roger that."

Wizard nodded, switching another of the rings on his left hand. Bracing himself, Wizard summoned up hs wind magic before taking to the skies towards the Cherub Phantom. The Phantom reacted quickly, yanking back several arrows before firing them at Wizard like a cluster. Wizard reacted just as quickly, activating the Hand Author and passing his left ring over it.

"_**DEFEND, PLEASE!**_"

The arrows that cut through the air towards Wizard were suddenly slapped out of the sky by the green-tinted hurricane force winds that circled around the Ring user in response to the activation of his ring. Wizard continued on his charge and crashed into the Cherub Phantom, knocking it silly before landing several pistol whips across its face. The Phantom was dazed, starting to fall but Wizard decided to assist gravity by kicking off the Phantom's chest, sending it crashing down into the ground below, actually leaving a skidmark on the ground.

The Cherub Phantom groaned and struggled to stand up again, its vision swimming from the impact. Grumbling, it pulled itself up to its knees to try and get back to the fight. Beginning to stand up though, it felt the cool metal of a handgun pressing against the back of his head, causing the Cherub Phantom to freeze.

"Please, do try to keep fighting," Mana spoke, the gun cocking into position to fire another bullet. "Gives me an excuse."

"Heh," the Cherub Phantom snickered. "I don't have to give you a reason. Not when you've just given me an opportunity!" The Phantom flared its wings, throwing its stone feathers into Mana's face and making her shield her face out of reflex. The Cherub Phantom then leaped to his feet and lunged at Mana wrapping an arm around her throat before twisting her and using the momentum to knock one gun from her hand and pinning the other.

"No!" Wizard cried, shooting towards the ground, landing in a crouch with both of his guns aimed at the Phantom who held his student hostage. "Let her go!"

"Now now Wizard, you know I can't do that," the Cherub Phantom chuckled. "It seems I'm on the ropes now and I'm going to need something to get me out of here." The Phantom's image then flickered before shifting into his handsome barkeeper form. "Or other things."

Wizard stared at the Phantom turned human, not speaking for a moment but the stare was so hard it was almost tastable on the tongues of the girl and Phantom. After a moment, Wizard's voice finaly spoke again, "Daniel Mallory."

"Huh?" the Phantom blinked.

"He was the local bartender at my old village. My Uncle Stan was always taking a pint or two there and enjoying the atmosphere. I've heard he had an open ear for your troubles and a sympathetic smile waiting for his customers," Wizard spoke. "And then when _that_ day came he fought just as hard as any of the mages there only to get transformed into stone like so many other people. And then that blasted eclipse happened and you ended up stealing his body and killing him!"

"Oh. Was that his name?" the Cherub Phantom smirked. "I didn't really bother to learn all that much about him aside from his bartender duties. It helped me blend in better into human society. People are so unguarded in front of a bartender." His smirk grew before he turned to look at the struggling Mana. "Speaking of which, I've seen you more than a few times at my joint. Brokering deals for this place to scout for trouble or act as an agent when there threats to the school. Funny how they didn't see _us_ coming isn't it?"

Mana growled, but didn't make a reply.

"But I know all about you Mana Tatsumiya," Cherub grinned. "We made sure to learn about the players here when we moved in. We know about your history with your previous Magister Magi. Such a tragic death he was dealt."

Mana's teeth grit even tighter. The Phatnom grinned before reaching to Mana's chest with it's hand wrapped around her neck and plucked what looked like a necklace locket from underneath her shirt. He popped it open, revealing the picture of a young man with short blonde hair and a scar on his forehead.

"Your only memento of him. The only one you could preserve if my sources are right," Cherub grinned. "You know, some of the others wanted first dibs on you, but it seems I'm going to beat them to it." his form shifted to that of the Cherub Phantom once again. "Now little girl, it's time for you to realize that the dead are gone and don't come back!" With a malicious laugh, the Phantom crushed the locket before dropping it to the ground, cracked in half with the picture crumpled.

"NO!" Wizard cried out in horror.

Mana stopped struggling as a bolt of cold lightning coursed through her. Her heart felt torn open as her last and only memento of the man who was her first love, her Magister Magi. Mana was a strong young woman who could indeed take and dish out a lot, but a strike to her heart emotionally speaking was something she hadn't had to deal with since her Magister Magi died, leaving her admittedly vulnerable to such a blow. She gagged as the pain coursed through her, purple cracks breaking out across her heart and beginning to spread over her body.

"There you go," the Cherub Phantom grinned. "Just give into the despair. It'll be over soon and I'll have a new comrade to crush the Wizard with."

"Mana-san!" Wizard cried out, his stance weakening.

Mana gagged a second time, but she didn't let the pain stop her. If she was going to die, she wasn't going to go alone! Willing her numbing arm to move, she tossed her gun across her torso before her empty hand, the one not pinned by the Phantom caught the handgun. Lifting the weapon up, she aimed the barrel right at where the Cherub Phantom's face was resting on her shoulder.

"Huh?" the Phantom blinked.

*BANG!*

"GAAAAAHHH!" The Cherub Phantom screamed, clutching his face from where a silver bullet had entered his forehead. Mana dropped to the ground, panting for breath as more cracks spread across her body.

Wizard didn't hesitate. he began running forward, shooting both of his WizarSwordGuns in a barrage of silver bullets that struck the Phantom at several points of its body, making sparks fly from each impact and making the Phantom stumble backwards from Mana even father. Wizard kept shooting until he was standing next to Mana's fallen form.

"No one. Touches. My. STUDENTS!" Wizard bellowed. He transferred both WizarSwordGuns into his right hand before pulling on the thumbs of both of the weapons, opening their palms.

"_**C'MON AND SHOOT! SHAKE HANDS!**_"

Wizard passed his left hand over both of the weapons, making green magic circles appear on their palms

"_**HURRICANE! SHOOTING STRIKE! FUU, FUU, FUU! FUU, FUU, FUU!**_"

Wizard aimed the barrels of both guns at the struggling Cherub Phantom. Green wind concentrated into their barrels as Wizard prepared to unleash his attack. Once the maximum charge on the weapons was reached, Wizard pulled the triggers. A pair of green tornadoes almost exploded from the barrels of the guns, spiralling through the air before crashing into the Cherub Phantom. The force of the tornadoes sent the Phantom screaming through the air before the shots tore _through_ it, making the kaijin explode into flames with a green magic circle being the only trace left behind.

Wizard didn't take the time admire the destruction though. Instead, he dashed to Mana's side, "Mana-san! Mana-san!" he gently lifted her up ascertain her health.

"Uhhh..." Mana groaned, purple cracks glowing brightly across her body. "Y-You know...this...this wasn't...how I...pictured myself...going out..." she coughed, something akin of ashes puffing out of the cracks. "You should...kill me now...before that...Phantom...inside me...gets out..."

"You're not dying today!" Wizard insisted. Reaching into his cloak, he produced one of his Engage Wizard Rings. He took Mana's hand gently in his. He wasn't about to allow one of his students to die in despair. He slipped the ring on.

"Seems...like an odd time...for a proposal..." Mana said.

"Just leave everything to me. I'll be the hope you need," he said as he reset his belt and put the hand sported the Engage Ring over the Hand Author.

"_**ENGAGE, PLEASE!"**_

Wizard gently lay Mana down on the ground before a magic circle appeared over her body. Wizard then stepped and allowed himself to pass through the circle and begin falling through the magic transport into Mana's Underworld where her Phantom was no doubt already causing trouble for her. Passing through the tunnel, he finally emerged into the Underworld where the sun shone down from above.

Wizard looked about, taking in his surroundings. The architecture around him told him that he was somewhere in China if his knowledge was right. Well, it was hard to be wrong considering he was standing on a section of the great wall.

"Mana-san is...well-travelled," the Ring user couldn't help but chuckle. Still, he was on the hunt for a Phantom and he didn't have time to dawdle. The newly born Phantom should be here somewhere, attempting to break free from Mana's Underworld. He heard the sound of glass cracking and he saw the source before part of the scenery shattered like glass to reveal a purple void, and something else struggling behind it.

Mana's inner Phantom.

Wizard frowned, seeing the cracks coming from some kind of campsite at the edge of the wall. Racing towards the source, he leaped off and allowed his wind magic to allow him to hover to the ground. touching down, he swapped out the Hurricane Ring on his left hand for a familiar red one. Activating the Hand Author, he swiped the red stone over it's surface.

"_**FLAME, PLEASE! HI, HI, HI HI HI!**_"

A red magic circle passed over him, switching Wizard from his green Hurricane Style to his red Flame Style. The extra firepower (pardon the pun) was going to be needed in the fight to come. Rushing through some of the undergrowth, he came upon the campsite where the Phantom was struggling to break out into Mana's Underworld.

The campsite seemed a little shoddy, like it was made to be taken apart at a moment's notice. There was only one tent, a bonfire, and a hunk of meat being roasted over it. Next to the fire, but behind the cracks was what looked like a young man with spiked blonde hair and a scar on his forehead, holding a staff and wearing robes showing his status as a mage. He had an easygoing smile on his face as if seeing something happy. Across from him was a young girl in a black dress with dark skin and long dark hair, holding what looked like pactio card with her image on it.

"Mana-san...as a child?" Wizard couldn't help but blink. She looked a far cry from the serious, almost mercenary young woman he met in the real world...

*SMASH*

The veil to the Underworld finally gave away as the Phantom burst free, snarling for all the world to see. From the waist down, it looked like a dust tornado that spun like a miniature storm. The torso was muscular, adorned with gold that looked like it was embedded in the skin and trails of blood red fabric hanging from the back. The skin itself was a deep bronze, looking like it was made of steel. the arms were just as muscular, sporting gold bangles. The head was wrapped in stained white fabric similar to that of a turban, sporting a pair of sinister yellow eyes that stared down at Wizard with animalistic malice.

"A Genie huh?" Wizard frowned. "Care to grant me a wish then?"

The Genie Phantom bellowed and pointed down at Wizard, unleashing a bolt of thunder from its fingertip. Wizard leaped away, the bolt smashing where he stood and leaving more purple cracks in the ground.

Skidding to a halt, Wizard sighed, swapping out the ring on his right hand, "Going to need your help again Dragon." he swiped the ring across the Hand Author.

"_**DRAGORISE, PLEASE!**_"

A magic circle roise into the air, unleashing Negi's own Dragon Phantom into Mana's Underworld. The beast snarled and charged at the Genie Phantom, blasting a stream of fire as it went. The Genie retaliated, launching another bolt of thunder from its fingertips. The two attacks collided into a fiery explosion, but it didn't stop the two from colliding with each other, sending both tumbling to the ground in a heap, causing more damage to the Underworld.

"Not a good idea to let them go like that," Wizard sighed. Swapping out another Wizard Ring, he activated it.

"_**CONNECT, PLEASE!**_"

Bringing out another magic circle, Wizard pulled out his Machine Winger and mounted it. Gunning the engine, he raced towards the scene of the battle between Dragon and Genie. The Genie Phantom had a quick advantage, having articulate arms. It manage to grab the Wizardragon by the throat, pushing it back before slamming it's face with an electrified punch, sending it stumbling to the ground.

"Hold on Dragon!" Wizard called out. Increasing his speed, he hit a rock in the path and launched himself into the air. The Machine Winger split apart and attached to Wizardragon's back, equipping the Dragon Phantom with a new pair bigger and more powerful wings, and giving Wizard better control over his summoned creature.

"Now let's do this right!" Wizard called, twisting the handlebars.

The Wizardragon roared and took to the sky once again. The Genie Phantom growled and shot more thunderbolts at its opponent, trying to blast them out of the sky. With Wizard's power adding to the Dragon's though, the both of them were able to dodge the attacks and draw in closer. Once the pair were close enough, Wizard twisted his handles, signalling for the Wizardragon to attack. The beast obeyed, launching a stream of fire directly at the Genie Phantom. The enemy screamed in pain, it's fabric-covered head catching fire. The monster thrashed and screamed, crashing into the Great Wall, making even more purple cracks in the Underworld. The Genie rolled along the ground, trying to put out its burning head.

"Now we have the finisher!" Wizard nodded, swapping out for a new ring on his right hand and activating it.

"_**VERY NICE! KICK STRIKE! FABULOUS!**_"

The Machine Winger, Wizardragon, and Wizard himself separated from each other high in the air. The Dragon dove down first, transforming into a giant draconian claw. The Machine Winger then connected to the top before Wizard came down and struck the top with a kick, creating a flaming image of himself wearing the dragon as a boot. All three dove down with the force of a meteor which came upon the screaming Genie Phantom. The massive attack smashed into the Phantom, burying it into the Great Wall before it exploded.

Leaping off his Phantom, Wizard took note that the cracks in the Underworld vanished and allowed the memory to begin playing again.

"Kouki-san! Thank you!"

Wizard turned, spotting the Chibi-Mana hugging her new Pactio card as the Magister Magi with her chuckled and poked at the fire.

"You're welcome Mana-chan," he smiled. "Guard it well though, okay? It means you're my partner and we're supposed to stick together."

"Right!" Chibi-Mana beamed. "Forever and ever!"

'_Oh if only it could be that long,_' Wizard sighed to himself, turning to exit Mana's Underworld.

* * *

The pain in Mana's body abruptly vanished as did the purple cracks running along her body. Groaning softly, she sat up and examined herself for injury. What the Phantom had done to her seemed to have been stopped and even reversed, leaving no signs that it was there. As she pulled herself to her feet, a red magic circle appeared next to her, ejecting Wizard on the back of his machine from her Underworld and back into Mahora Gakuen.

Wizard dismounted his machine to examine his student, "Are you okay Mana-san?"

"Nothing broken, save my pride," Mana sighed, picking up her guns. "Other than that, perhaps a little bit surprised to see that my homeroom teacher the Wizard Ring mage that caused such a ruckus yesterday."

"The Phantom caused it. I just aimed to end it before the other teachers interfered," Wizard defended himself. Sighing, he removed his Flame Ring, dismissing his transformation. "In regards to that though, I must implore you to keep this a secret from the other teachers. Most of them seem ready to blame me as much as they are the Phantoms. Of course, they refuse to believe in Phantoms just the same."

Mana raised an eyebrow, obviously thinking on the subject, tapping her right pistol against her hip, "Hmm. Normally I'd be asking for a price for something like my silence. Considering you did save my life though, I suppose I owe you one. Say what you'd like about me but I pay my debts on time and in full."

Negi heaved a sigh of relief before bowing deeply to his student, "Thank-you very much Mana-san."

Mana smiled at her teacher's thanks, "So informal with me now." She then glanced at the ring that Negi had slipped onto her finger, "You know Sensei, if you're going to slip a ring on a girl's finger you had better be ready to accept the consequences."

"Urk!" Negi gulped, standing straight again. "M-Mana-san! I-It's not like that!"

Mana merely chuckled and walked past her teacher towards town, "I'll remember this Sensei. Better be ready to help me when I need it. You made the promise to end all promises to me after all and a real man keeps his word."

"But...but...but..." Negi sputtered. Was she being serious?

"See you later Sensei," Mana smirked as she walked away.

Negi was left wondering and perhaps a little bit afraid of what Mana would consider a favor from him.

* * *

In the time that followed after the death of the Cherub Phantom, all of the girls that had fallen under the spell on Negi seemed to snap out of it. They weren't one-hundred percent sure what they had been doing the past two days outside of their basic schedules. Some were a little confused why their notebooks were filled with scribbles about Negi and all of the girls were wondering who built Michelangelo's David in Negi's image. Ayaka had her maids take the statue away to preserve the decency of their dorms, but everyone figured she took it to her house to admire it. Plenty of the girls did before it was gone. Touko-sensei could arguably be called the only one who came out in a bad way and that was for her personal life. Apparently she had cancelled a date she had with a guy she had wanted to go out with for some time so she could chase Negi and had even worn the 'special' underwear she swore to save for the right time while doing so. Many people were shocked to see her smack herself over the head with the sheath of her own sword after Akashi-sensei told her what had happened. Were the Phantom not already dead, the woman would have been out for blood.

Negi was just glad things were back to normal, or what passed as normal. He sat at the table with Konoka and Asuna for dinner, trying to relax after two days of dodging amorous women as well as fighting Phantoms.

"Does anyone else feel like they're forgetting something?" asked Konoka, trying to recall the past two days.

"Not really," Negi and Asuna denied at the same time.

"Oh. I guess it's just me then," Konoka shrugged. "I hope it wasn't important."

"Probably not," Asuna replied. If only she could forget all of the craziness that went on thanks to that Phantom. She didn't need to see Ayaka and some of the other affected girls comparing who had the sexiest underwear for enticing Negi thank-you very much!

* * *

**Phantom Bar**

The regular meeting place for the two Chief Phantoms was dark, having no actual paying patrons since the Cherub Phantom was not among the living to open the place up anymore. Inside were of course Medusa and Phoenix, both in their human forms. Neither of the pair were looking too pleased when they had felt the magical signature of Cherub suddenly vanish with no new Phantoms to show for it.

"Dammit!" Phoenix cursed, slamming the bar table. "Just figures! We had a great plan going on and that stupid Wizard just had to mess everything up again!"

"He's more annoying that the White Wizard," Medusa frowned, pacing the room. "I was worried that Cherub's plan was taking too long. It seems my concerns were valid."

"This just pisses me off!" Phoenix growled, reaching over the bar and stealing a bottle.

"Wiseman will not be pleased," Medusa frowned. "Fortunately, the abundance of Gates in this place allows us a little more leeway than usual. But we must act fast lest we raise Wiseman's anger."

"I know, I know," Phoenix snarled. "But if you're so smart why don't you pick the next guy to help us out?"

"I intend to," the female Phantom retorted.

To Be Continued...

A/N: Okay, chapter three ends and so does the Cherub Phantom. Unfortunately, this is just the beginning for Negi's adventures as Wizard against the Phantoms.


	4. Ocean of Malice

I do not own Kamen Rider Wizard or Mahou Sensei Negima! Those belong to their respective creators and not me. I am only writing this for fun and not for profit. So sit back, relax, and enjoy it.

**Mahou Ridaa Negima**

**By Ten-Faced Paladin**

**Chapter 4: Ocean of Malice**

**Kagurazaka/Konoe/Springfield Room**

Negi yawned, finishing the last of his paperwork for his next few lessons. After the chaos of the Cherub Phantom he was just glad to get back some normalcy to his life. Thankfully none of the monster's victims seemed to remember the specifics of what they had been up to since the Phantom cast it's spell. Negi wished that he could have forgotten considering how worked up he saw Touko and Shizuna become. Nodoka certainly became a little different in his eyes since Negi witnessed her try to use rock climbing equipment to chase after him in the library.

"Finally, some normalcy," Negi sighed, stretching his arms. In the midst though, a slightly ran scent suddenly touched his nose. Frowning slightly, he lowered his arms, "That time again huh?" Magic was great for cleaning one's self off and the Wizard armor actually removed any substances like sweat or blood among other fluids that opponents my shoot at him. It wasn't a permanent solution though, as was being proven now.

Since he was by himself at the moment and it was late, Negi felt that the bathing area in the dorm should be free and more importantly, empty. He'd had his fill of perverted situations with all of those girls and women throwing themselves at him during the last few days.

Grabbing his bathing supplies, he exited the dorm room and headed in the direction of the baths. It was in the building connected to the dorms so it was a bit of a walk, but thankfully not much of one. Being placed on the sixth floor it meant that Negi was in for more of a walk than the other residents on the lower floors. Trekking his way to the bath hall, he took the time to listen for anyone inside. Hearing nothing, Negi thanks his lucky stars and headed inside.

Inside the bath hall made him gape slightly. It was massive! The entire area looked more like a spa than a bathing hall. There was a massive pool-like area with an island in the middle decorated with ferns and other high-temperature plants. There were smaller pools off to the side, some of them looking like Jacuzzis. The only real way that one could tell that the room was meant for bathing and not something like swimming or lounging was the row of taps and showerheads along the tiled wall.

"Wow," Negi couldn't help but admire. He got to bathe here? That was incredible!

Negi managed to tear his eyes away from the admittedly beautiful decorations to find the changing area. It allowed him the space to remove his clothes and wrap a clean towel around his waist, leaving his clothes in a basket. Coming out to the bathing area, he walked to the taps where he could take a seat on a provided stool and wash himself. Japanese bathing was somewhat more complex than the western method. The bather would actually clean himself off first with water at a provided tap, but enveloping oneself in water didn't happen until they were clean so they could enjoy soaking in clean hot water. Negi never got the reason why, but he did see the appeal in soaking in hot water without it being clouded up by the day's dirt and grime.

Reaching the tap, he noticed his reflection in a mirror above the taps, likely used to help the people (girls in this place) bathe themselves properly, letting them see spots they might miss. Negi glanced in the glass, spotting himself but he didn't stop to admire it. His physique was lithe but had a fine amount of muscle on it although those weren't what Negi disregarded. Littered across his torso were numerous scars. Some were very faint and hard to notice, others were somewhat more visible. Negi often played them off as scars he received from the attack on his home town. In truth, they were received over his time as Wizard and his battles against the Phantoms. The armor was powerful and capable of protecting him, but Phantoms were powerful and could pierce the armor if they struck hard enough or in the right place. The result was wounds which sometimes left scars and quite often had Nekane going into fits as she or a trained medical magi treated it.

Shrugging off the memories, Negi began washing up. It felt a little awkward being on a stool instead of in a bath or shower, but he got used to it quickly enough. He made sure to be thorough since he knew others used the hot water pools for soaking and he didn't want to get the reputation of being the one who dirtied it up. A juvenile insecurity to be sure, but one that Negi moved to ensure didn't come to pass. After a complete cleansing of his body, Negi headed to the largest of the hot water pools and sank inside. He sighed at the blissful temperatures, feeling very good after cleaning himself and moved to the island in the middle to enjoy the water in company of plants. It was almost like a tropical vacation!

So relaxed, he hadn't truly paid attention to his surroundings and had actually forgotten that he was still inside a girls dormitory as the lone male occupant. As such, he was abruptly brought out of his state of utter relaxation by the noises of girls chatting with one another. Blinking, he turned to face the source of the noise out of reflex. He of course whipped back a nanosecond later with his face so red it may have caused people to have health concerns.

Entering the bathing area were the forms of Konoka, Haruna, Yue, Nodoka, and Ayaka, all of which were preparing to enter the bath themselves. Naturally, all of them were nude with towels and a bucket of supplies for bathing. Yue and Konoka thankfully had their towels on but Ayaka, Nodoka, and Haruna certainly weren't shy about how they looked au naturale. They were definitely not unattractive in any stretch of the mind, but for a group of fifteen year old girls they were surprisingly shapely. Asuna certainly wasn't the only one graced with an enviable figure.

'_Dear lord!_' Negi thought to himself in a near panic. Thankfully he wasn't in the habit of breaking into massive nosebleeds when naked women were involved like most Japanese young men were. Otherwise he would have passed out in the water and drowned before the clouded red water alerted the girls to his presence. As it was, he struggled with not searing the memory of his nude students into his mind.

Ayaka reached one of the stools and began to scrub herself down, heaving a sigh of irritation. It didn't escape Haruna's notice, her sharp hearing for gossip saw a potential rumor material appear as she began grinning, "What's wrong Rep? Still steamed about Negi-kun rooming with Asuna?"

"Damn straight I am!" Ayaka huffed. "Asuna is completely wrong for a roommate for someone like Negi-sensei! Knowing her temper she might end up killing him if he so much as sneezes in her direction the wrong way!"

"Oh come on Ayaka!" Konoka giggled. "She's not that bad. They're getting along loads better now. They just got off to a bad start."

"I bet the dean would let Negi-kun room with us if we asked," Haruna grinned impishly. She glanced over to her shy bookworm friend, "Right Nodoka?"

"Ah!" Nodoka gasped, but the blush on her face and the small smile certainly showed she was at least agreeable to the idea.

"You three can barely look after yourselves! Negi-sensei would be picking up after you all the time if he lived with you!" Ayaka snapped. "What kind of image of Japan would that paint for him? A bunch of slobs?"

"Oh? And you're such a perfect example of a Japanese woman?" asked Haruna, smelling a not-so-pure motive a mile away.

"Of course! I've been taught all the lessons a young lady in the modern world needs," Ayaka nodded, running her fingers through her hair. "Negi-sensei is of course intelligent, but he's still alone in a foreign country and he needs someone to help him adjust and fit in here."

"And you're such a shining example?" Haruna pressed, itching to hear the real motives.

"Of course!" Ayaka insisted. "I'm intelligent, educated, poised, and of course I'm much more mature that someone like Asuna."

"Oh, 'mature' right," Haruna grinned, hefting her boobs to insinuate what Ayaka no doubt what meant about being mature. It served to make Nodoka and Yue laugh at the inside joke.

"Her motives are soooo pure," Yue smirked.

"Damn straight!" Ayaka insisted.

Negi was of course unable to not listen as he hid in the water behind the ferns on the opposite side of the island in the largest pool, making sure he couldn't see anything. It didn't stop him from hearing the conversation. He was by no means a naive ten-year old anymore. He could guess that Ayaka was jealous that he was rooming with Konoka and Asuna, more likely it was Asuna more than Konoka. To be honest, it sounded like Ayaka was trying to paint herself as an ideal modern Japanese woman who could guide Negi through any questions or concerns he had about being in a new country...and incidentally appear like an ideal potential spousal candidate of some kind.

"Hey, are you calling me out on my figure?" Ayaka snapped. "I'll have you know I'm a perfect ten!"

"Yeah, on a scale of one to a hundred," Haruna shot back teasingly.

But then the conversation seemed to degrade into an argument about boob size.

"Hey y'all, Rep, what's up?"

Negi flinched when he heard the voice of another one of his students, Kaede Nagisa if he recalled properly, apparently enter the room. Ayaka and Haruna were slightly surprised to see the tall young woman, but were more stunned over how Kaede's breast size outdid theirs.

"We were...uh...talking about," Ayaka began.

"Ayaka's body actually," Haruna finished.

"So we don't talk about boys anymore? Weird."

Kazumi Asakura spoke those words as she likewise entered the bathing room, not even bothering with a towel. Of course, as the girl with the fourth largest breasts in the class she certainly didn't mind showing off. With her and offering a polite greeting was the long-haired brunette Chizuru Naba, Ayaka's roommate, and the uncontested largest boobs in the class. Following them was Mana, likewise in the running among the class as one of the largest. Behind them came more of the 2A students such as Chinese foreign student Ku Fei or the Narutaki twins. Soon all of 2A was cleaning themselves up or chatting with their friends. While not all of them were gifted in the bust area, they were certainly gifted in some shape or form.

"Welcome to the Miss Naked Japan Competition," Ayaka sweatdropped with a laugh.

"Kinda forgot how...gifted...some of us girls can be," Haruna grinned.

"Are they really middle-schoolers?" Ayaka asked.

"A competition?" asked Fumika, overhearing Haruna and Ayaka conversing. "What's the prize?"

"It's nothing, just us being stupid," Ayaka insisted, trying to wave off the inquisition.

Yue spoke up, sipping a juice box filled with a weird concoction like she was known to drink, this time hot cola, "It's a little complicated, but it seems like the girl with the best boobs gets to have Negi-sensei."

"REALLY?"

Suddenly the majority of the girls who had been only keeping a passive glance on the conversation out of curiosity made it their focus as they tried to hear about the apparent contest. Some of the girls of course didn't care either way such as Chisame or Mana while others seemed to just sit back and decide to enjoy the show such as Kaede or Kazumi.

"What kind of crazy contest is that?"

"No crazier than anything else around here!"

"How do we get Negi-sensei? Like does he move in with us or we get special lessons?"

"Can we do anything we want with him? Like have him do our homework?"

"Totally!"

Negi was beginning to fear for his safety as well as his chastity. He was still a little leery of some of his class after the Cherub Phantom incident. 2A was certainly one of the wildest classes he had ever seen. Once they got rolling on some kind of wild activity then they were almost impossible to stop. If someone really did win this silly little contest then he could very well end up living with another one of his students who may or may not have less than noble intentions for him.

"Hey wait!" One of the girls, Makie, pondered. "It's not fair if we go with just boob size! Yuna, Chizuru, and the rest will be sure to win! We need to be more fair about it!"

"Oh? What is your suggestion then?" asked Kazumi, ready to egg the competition on.

"Nude posing!" Haruna shouted with a grin. "Sexiest pose wins!"

"Sounds good to me!" Yuna Akashi cheered. "Let's do it!"

What followed to Negi's ears was giggling and cheers of several of the girls as they apparently got their little contest underway. Bathing was apparently forgotten for the time being as they began posing with certain decorations in the baths or in the water. Negi silently prayed that the girls didn't enter his section of the baths and see him. If Anya's reaction during that one time he accidentally walked in on her in the shower he wouldn't survive.

Mana shook her head, lathering up her body as she listened to her classmates compete and posing in the nude for the chance to take Negi-sensei for themselves. He was certainly a catch, being capable of fighting off Phantoms and apparently having done so for years. One didn't become as skilled in fighting those kinds of monsters overnight. He had to have survived who knew how many battles to become as good as he was, his experience rising to the point he could actually kill the Phantoms without flinching.

It made her respect for him certainly rise.

"Mana," Kaede's voice spoke up, breaking the markswoman's introspection, "I couldn't help but notice that you're wearing a ring similar to Asuna-san's." the Kouga beauty took a seat next to her rival, bringing out her soap to lather up. "Anything interesting you want to share?"

"Nothing important," Mana shrugged, beginning to fill her tub with water.

"And the fact that it's the exact same style as the one Negi-sensei gave Asuna?" asked Kaede, her squinted eyes opening slightly.

"Payment for services rendered," Mana answered coolly, splashing the water over her body. "I saw him getting mobbed during that weird incident a few days ago and pulled his fat out of the fire. I mentioned I don't work for free so I got one of the rings in payment. Might be worth a pretty penny when things get rough."

"Hmm," Kaede smiled. "I know you better than that Mana-san. If you wanted money, you would have sold that ring as soon as it was in your hand. You kept it. That tells me that it's more than just a ring to you."

"Waiting for the market to be right," Mana insisted. "The gemstone is large so I'm looking for the right time to make the most of it."

"How mercenary of you," Kaede chuckled, obviously not believing it but starting to bathe herself nonetheless.

Mana took the discussion as closed, but knew that Kaede didn't believe it. She and Mana knew each other too well. They were rivals for a long time now and knew how they best operated with one another. Kaede was observant, almost devilishly so and she knew Mana's habits. Yes, Mana could certainly be money-grubbing when the mood suited her, but she preferred to have cold hard cash instead of baubles and gems. She only had jewelry to help her blend into sophisticated places for some of her jobs. Uncut or gaudy gems were quickly sold off. If Mana was keeping a ring like the kind Negi had, then likely it was for a reason.

She put the thought from her mind, but she knew she would have to concoct a better excuse and let Negi know so he could back it up. She knew the ring would hide her magical potential from the Phantoms who sought to use her as a Gate. Selling it wasn't an option and she couldn't be choosy about wearing it. If all else failed, she could just lie and pretend that it was the first gift she got from a boy in a while and she wanted to savor it. Her classmates would believe it since her social calendar wasn't exactly exploding with activity.

Tossing a second tub of water over her to wet down her hair, Mana reached for the shampoo when from the corner of her eye she saw something move. Out of reflex, she glanced over. She half-expected it to be one of her classmates showing off for their silly contest, but instead saw that it was some of the plants that decorated the island in the main pool were shuddering. Mana glanced to her classmates and did a quick headcount, finding all of them there, even the nigh-mute Zazie Rainyday. If it was a girl from another class, she would have just said her hellos and not try to hide. They were all girls after all. Only one person in the entire dorms would have a reason to hide off the top of her head...

"Something wrong?" asked Kaede with a raised eyebrow.

"I think that 2A's little contest might have an unintended audience member," Mana replied, gesturing with her eyes to the island and the shuddering ferns.

"Hm?" Kaede glanced over to the island and saw the movement before coming to the same conclusions. She began to smile in amusement. "Oh, naughty sensei."

"Keep an eye out," Mana spoke. "I'll see what's going on."

Brushing the wet hair from her face, Mana grabbed her towel and wrapped it around herself before sinking into the hot water. It naturally made the towel quite useless at hiding her figure but she'd rather her curves be seen rather than everything else. Coming up to the island, she slowly walked around it and quickly found the naked form of her teacher hunched in the water, looking quite steadfast in looking away from the scene at the bathing area.

"Should I be worried for my chastity Negi-sensei?" Mana grinned.

"URK!" Negi grunted, managing to keep himself from yelping. Again, by reflex he looked to her but flushed quite deeply as he saw Mana wrapped in a wet towel which did nothing to hide her shapely figure even if her goods weren't on display. Flushing, he looked back down at the water. "Sorry!"

"I've got nothing to be ashamed of," Mana shrugged. She'd used her body enough times in the past for jobs to be comfortable with it. It was amazing how so many of her targets could be distracted even in the middle of a gunfight when a pair of breasts became revealed to the world. "You on the other hand will be if everyone finds out you're here. Just how did this strange situation turn out, hm?"

"I just came to have a bath!" Negi insisted, keeping his eyes trained on the water religiously. "When I got here there was no one else here. I just bathed, got into the water and relaxed. I guess I stayed too long or something since the next thing I know all of you girls start coming in. I haven't been peeking! Honest!"

"Your self control must be amazing then," Mana smirked. Negi's voice was much too strained and panicked to be anything but truthful. She had to give him credit for not blatantly staring even now. Not many other men would have resisted. "Now comes the question of how to get you out of here. You can't wait it out you know. Once the others end their contest they're going to want to get in the water and it won't be long until they find you."

"I know," Negi grimaced. "I'm doomed."

"Relax Sensei," Mana reassured her teacher. "Saving my life is a pretty hefty thing and simply keeping a secret for you is too cheap even for my tastes. I'll help you out of here free of charge. Just wait for my signal and when everyone's attention is trained on me you escape to the far side by the windows and sneak around to the exit. Make it quick though."

"Oh, no worries," Negi agreed.

"Good." Mana nodded. Glancing about, she saw the large palm trees that were part of the island decoration before an idea hit her. Getting out of the water, she walked to the front side of the island before eliciting a sharp whistle which caught the attention of her classmates. It seemed to be the perfect timing since the cheerleaders were trying to get Ako Izumi to pose for the contest, much to the shy girl's horror.

"Too late for me to join in?" asked Mana, her hands on her hips.

"Nope!" Haruna, the official judge grinned. "Hit us with your best shot Mana!"

"If I hit you with my best shot, you'd be dead," Mana smirked. Grabbing the edge of her towel, she removed it with a sharp yank and tossed it aside to show her whole glory before she reclined against one of the trees, her arms over her head, one of her legs relaxed with the knee bent and her toes just touching the ground. Her head was slightly turned with her best come-hither eyes which were just magical considering their natural golden tone. Add her naturally tanned skin and long dark hair and she looked like the epitome of exotic femininity mixed with raw sex appeal.

"Ooooh! The sexy island woman!" Haruna grinned., holding her thumb up in approval. "Awesome! That's easily in the running for top five!" The announcement served it's purpose as the contestants and audience all took the time to admire Mana's posing and how she seemed to drip sexuality all the while either being jealous, admiring her, or simply wondering how they could do the same thing.

Negi saw his chance and dove under the water, swimming through it to the far side where Mana said for him to go. He reached the edge of the pool quickly, slipping out as silently as he could. Sticking near the large glass windows, he ran for the exit as quickly as he could. He managed to sneak around the girls, desperately keeping his eyes averted so he wouldn't see anything that he shouldn't. Although he was sorely tempted to glance so to see what Mana had done for a distraction. Keeping his will strong, he managed to run into the change room, grab his clothes, and make a dash for his room again. He could get his supplies back later!

* * *

"Okay everyone!" Haruna called out. "After careful consideration I've finally determined who the winner is in the Miss Naked 2A Competition! I've graded you all in sexiness, creativity, and a bunch of other areas that women like us should take pride in!"

"So who won?" asked Kazumi, mentally taking notes, possibly to write a funny article.

"Drumroll please!" Haruna called, Zazie beginning to play her bathing tub like a drum. "In Fifth Place we have our star gymnast, Makie Sasaki! Although she doesn't have much on top her legs and flexibility sure made for a great floor show!"

"Well excuse me!" The pinkette cried covering her chest protectively.

"Fourth Place coes as sort of a surprise, but with her innocent girl charm and the use of ferns as naughty concealment which was hardly effective, we've got Konoka Konoe!"

"Eh heh heh heh! I feel like a naughty model," Konoka giggled, flushing.

"I can't believe you did that," Asuna grumbled.

"Third Place, although she didn't quite get what we were competing over, her healthy body with all the right curves an exotic looks won Ku Fei her own top spot!"

"Is too bad. I be winner if martial arts," The Chinese girl shrugged.

"Maybe you should drink more milk. You'd have won with a bigger chest," Chao Lingshen grinned teasingly, dodging a swipe from her friend.

"Second Place comes thanks to the womanly charm of the modern Japanese woman, Ayaka Yukihiro!"

"Hmph!" said blonde grumped, upset at not being the winner.

"And our grand prize winner, with the exotic body of the ages and the attitude to make every inch of it sexy enough to render men comatose, I give you our champion: Mana Tatsumiya!" Haruna gestured to the exotic girl, Nodoka and Yue clapping politely while others in the class made token cheers. Those that didn't have a vested interest or weren't taking it seriously anyway.

"No photographs, please," Mana smirked, returning to washing her hair.

"So Mana-san, what are you going to do with your luxurious prize?" asked Kaede with her ever present smile.

"What else? Sell him to the highest bidder," Mana replied.

"Ooh! How cold!" Kaede laughed.

Drawn by the conversation like a bloodhound though, Ayaka charged for the pair, skidding to a halt with a cry of, "NAME YOUR PRICE!"

Chaos of several offers erupted soon after.

Negi would go to bed feeling like he was once again a side of beef with hungry wolves looking for a bite.

* * *

Mahora had a very large swimming pool. During the weekdays, the pool was only open to members of the Swim Team. It was only open to the public on weekends. At night though, it was free to be explored to it's full size without a care of anyone else being there. Right now, it was being used, as someone was swimming laps in the pool. It was a girl in the standard school swimsuit and she swam fluidly through the water. It didn't seem like she was exhausted at all. When she reached the end, she looked up and saw a couple of feet. Pulling her goggles up, she blinked as she saw who they were. "Ah, Phoenix-sama! Medusa-sama!" The girl climbed out of the pool and removed her swimming cap to reveal brown, green-tinted hair that went down to the small of her back.

"Hello, Mermaid," smiled Medusa.

"So, it looks like you're having fun," Phoenix remarked as he looked down at the pool water. Water wasn't exactly his element. He hated the stuff. Fortunately his fires were so hot he didn't have to worry about it most of the time. The girl-Mermaid-went over to one of the poolside chairs and grabbed a towel to dry herself.

"Well, my Gate did enjoy it and I did inherit everything," said Mermaid with a proud smile. "So, what exactly do you both need me to do?"

Medusa handed Mermaid a picture and the girl looked at it, "Ah, I know her. She's on my Swim Team. Akira Okochi."

"She's a Gate," said Medusa. "And your target."

Mermaid smirked as she looked at Akira's picture. Mermaid herself was proud of her swimming skills but Akira's talents were a match for hers. Now, Mermaid had a chance to eliminate the girl. She hadn't been allowed to kill the girl since Mahora had the largest population of Gates within its property so there was too much risk.

"This will be easy," said Mermaid. As they were on the same team, Mermaid knew what Akira loved and knew exactly how to drag her into despair. "It will be done, Medusa-sama." With her identity as Akira's sempai, Melissa Thorton, she could easily approach the girl then send her to the deepest depths of despair to give birth to a new Phantom. Then not only would they have a new comrade but she'd be the swim team's new ace!

* * *

The next morning, Negi was heading to the school with Asuna and Konoka. Girls who knew about the 'cute teen teacher' would pass by and greet him sweetly and he greeted back. He was an English gentleman, after all. He'd already started getting used to living with Asuna and Konoka and he was getting comfortable with his duties as 2A's homeroom teacher. However, the occurrence in the students' bath last night made him wary as the girls had certain intentions towards him. As flattered as he was, they were his students, and it wouldn't be right. Plus he had duties as Wizard to perform, hunting Phantoms and preventing them from creating more Phantoms by putting Gates into despair.

What frightened him though was that twice now it had been students in his own class that had been the targets, intentional or out of opportunity. The Phantoms didn't know who he was yet, or at least the vast majority of the didn't know beyond the Phoenix and Gorgon Phantoms anyway and they didn't seem to care either way since their minions didn't seem to know until he used his magic.

"Ready for another day Negi-kun?" asked Konoka as they ran towards Mahora in hopes of beating the bell.

"As I'll ever be when it comes to 2A!" Negi smiled back.

The group managed to arrive on time and class began as normal. Fortunately there were no riots breaking out this time but for some reason several of the girls were giving Mana glances. Negi merely shrugged it off and kept on with his lessons through the day. With no chaos going around for once, Negi was able to relax for a change when the day ended and he could sit down at his desk in the teacher's lounge. He was still something of a novelty for the other teachers, but so far none of them could dispute he seemed capable. Negi himself was just glad that he didn't have to deal with Phantoms or some kind of magical emergency today.

"Nice and relaxing," he sighed, resting his head in his arms.

"I'd hate to rain on your parade then Negi-kun," Shizuna tittered, approaching Negi's desk with a manilla envelope in her hands.

"Ah, Shizuna-sensei! How can I help you?" asked Negi.

"Well, Takahata-sensei asked me to give you something," Shizuna explained, handing the envelope to Negi. "It's his after school session list. You see, he would hold pop quizzes every so often and the low scorers would have to stay behind after school for supplementary lessons."

"Ah," Negi nodded. "Let's see who the lucky devils are then." Breaking the seal on the envelope, Negi removed the lone paper from inside and looked over the roster of names. "Yue Ayase, Asuna Kagurazaka, Ku Fei, Makie Sasaki, and Kaede Nagisa. Well, since I'm their homeroom teacher then this falls under my job as well."

"I knew you would," Shizuna smiled. "Good luck Negi-kun."

"How hard could it be?" asked Negi

* * *

**2A Classroom**

"Deep as the ocean, Baka Blue!"

"Bright as sun, Baka Yellow!"

"Full of energy, Baka Pink!"

"Dark as the night, Baka Black...and Asuna's Baka Red."

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A BAKA?-!"

Negi had arrived at the 2A classroom after the day's lessons were done. He found his five students there already. Oddly enough, four of the five were striking poses like something out of a superhero television show of some sort and announcing themselves. Nodoka and Haruna were at the back with a stereo playing some kind of theme music. Yue, Makie, Kaede, and Ku seemed to find it funny that they were the low scorers in the class but Asuna on the other hand found it embarrassing and rightly so since she had the lowest marks out of the five according to the roster.

"Um..." Negi blinked, honestly unsure as what to say.

"Pose successful," Yue nodded. "We've broken the enemy's mind."

"Uh...right," Negi sweatdropped. "Alright then. You ladies all now why you're here. Takamichi's last pop quiz had you all scoring the lowest so to help raise your grades we'll be having some extra lessons."

"It was a fluke," Asuna grumbled, trying to explain away why she scored so badly. Likely she didn't like having to admit she wasn't doing well when it was her crush teaching in case it would make him look bad.. "I just have a lot going on right now. I can get into the high school level on my own...sooner or later..."

"Considering this is an elevator school, you're probably right," Negi nodded. "But Takamichi would certainly be happy to hear that your grades are going up before you do...or perhaps be disappointed to hear that they didn't."

"YOU-!" Asuna snarled, clenching her hands and ready to throttle Negi for hinting he would tell her crush about her scholastic problems but soon thought better of it, dropping her head. "Fine! I'll take the stupid lessons!"

"Excellent," Negi grinned. "Take a seat ladies and we'll begin with a quiz. It's just ten points and if you want to leave you need to score a six or higher."

The girls did as they were told and Negi handed out the quizzes. They weren't meant to be incredibly challenging, but made to test general knowledge on what the class had already been taught so far. It would take some thought, but if you knew the material then you could get through it quickly.

"Done," Yue announced suddenly, bringing the paper up to him.

"Already?" Negi blinked. Taking the paper, he read through Yue's answers, marking the ones that were correct. To his surprise, she passed with flying colours! "Nine out of ten Yue-san, excellent!" Haruna and Nodoka cheered for their friend. Negi personally couldn't believe Yue did so poorly on the pop quiz, but he had a suspicion that either Yue didn't do well under pressure which as far as he knew wasn't the case or she just hated to study.

As Yue headed for the door with her friends, Makie, Ku, and Kaede brought their tests up to be marked. After a moment, Negi sweatdropped and read off the scores, "Three, four, and three. Sorry ladies, you're still stuck with me."

The trio went back to their seats while Asuna stomped up and held her own paper out. Negi took it and looked it over, finally coming to an outcome, "Two...wow..."

Shaking off his shock, Negi had the girls sit down before moving into revision lessons to address the areas where the girls seemed to have trouble. After the revision was complete, he handed out another quiz, this time with different questions for the girls to answer. Ku and Kaede both finished first, bringing them up to be marked.

"Both of you scored eight points. Good work!" Negi nodded. "Keep this up in class and you'll be passing in no time!"

"Thanks Negi-kun," Kaede smiled as she left.

"Bye-bye!" Ku waved as she followed.

Makie came up after them, barely managing to pass with a six but she still managed it as she headed out where her friends Yuna, and Ako had come to pick her up. Lastly was Asuna who looked as grim as ever when she passed her paper in. Negi had been hoping to see some improvement, but instead all he had seen was Asuna's mark actually getting worse with a single point to her name.

Not discouraged, Negi dove into his lessons to try and help Asuna out. He went over all of the areas she had trouble in, hoping to explain it in a way that would make sense to her before he would quiz her again. Time and time again though, Asuna blew every quiz, scoring a four at the highest and the rest were between one and three. Negi knew that she wasn't stupid, but he couldn't figure out how she was doing so poorly. Yue merely hated to study so sometimes the facts would slip, Makie obviously had a shorter attention span than most which made paying attention to lessons hard by his estimate, Ku was originally from China so having to learn English on top of already adapting to Japanese would be tough, and Kaede seemed to have her main focus on other areas besides English. Asuna seemed to have the drive, but it was like it just couldn't stick.

'_Maybe she's dyslexic?_' Negi thought to himself.

"I are stupid. You am useless," Asuna grumbled, looking like she was on the brink of tears after failing so many times.

Negi checked the clock. Maybe Asuna just needed a break. It had been close to an hour since the sessions started and it had only been in the first twenty minutes that the other Baka Rangers managed to get good scores and be allowed to leave.

"Hey, Negi," Asuna spoke up.

"Huh?" Negi asked.

"Do you have some kind of ring to make me smarter?" she asked hopefully.

"Sorry, even if there was that kind of magic, I don't really know it," Negi admitted. Well, that was kind of a lie. There was the Gray Cell Spell but the side effects would make the subject a moron for a whole month after being a genius for 72 hours. He doubted Asuna would want that. Angry over his answer, she went and grabbed his collar.

"What kind of wizard are you!?"

Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!

Negi and Asuna heard tapping on the window and looked over to see the Red Garuda PlaMonster tapping on the glass with its beak. Asuna released Negi so he could open the window and let it inside. The only reason Garuda would come at this time was because there was a Phantom on the attack.

"I think we're going to have to cut it short tonight," Negi frowned.

"Right," Asuna nodded.

Seeing that he and Asuna were on the same page, Negi dashed out of the classroom and headed for the outdoors where Garuda would be waiting for him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Akira Okochi was practicing with the Swim Team. It was getting late and she was supposed to meet Ako, Yuna, and Makie soon but she wanted to stay to practice just a little longer. She just loved swimming so much that she couldn't help but want to stay in the water as much as she could. However, it was getting late and her teammates had already left.

"Hey, Akira," said Melissa, one of her sempai on the team. "You should really be heading back. It'll be dark soon."

"Hai, sempai," said Akira respectfully as she climbed out of the pool. She grabbed her towel and walked towards the locker room while drying her hair. Melissa watched her go and wore an evil grin.

In the locker room, Akira was slipping out of her bathing suit before switching into her school uniform. After a shower to get the chlorine off, she felt refreshed and ready for a good night of hanging out with her friends. She collected her belongings and headed outside, watching as the street lights lit up. At a nearby bench and talking amongst themselves were of course her friends Ako, Yuna, and Makie.

"Oh! Akira!" Makie waved, catching sight of the tall girl first.

"Hey everyone," Akira smiled. "Sensei let you our early Makie?"

"Only after my second try!" the pinkette grinned. "Negi-kun's my good luck charm when it comes to my grades!"

Akira smiled and met with her friends, "So what are we doing tonight?"

"Sakurako and the others said an awesome karaoke place has just opened up," Yuna grinned. "I figure what better to blow off steam from extra studying than to go out and sing ourselves hoarse!"

"Yeah, I'm gonna sing all my fave songs!" Makie cheered.

The group of four friends made a unanimous agreement before they headed out to have the night of their lives. As they walked, a shadowed figure began to follow them while keeping out of sight. It needn't have bothered though since the excited chattering of Makie and Yuna's naturally loud voices helped drown out the sounds of any sort of footsteps. The silent chase seemed to just go on as the girls progressed, going past several alleys and other isolated places that just seemed perfect for jumping someone. Still, the shadowing figure didn't make a move as it continued to follow the four teens.

That pattern changed when the four girls reached a bridge going over a river. The shadowed figure stopped at one end of the bridge as the girls walked. Rather than try to catch the group's attention, the figure merely made a gesture with its hand.

**BLOOSH!**

The water in the river erupted into the air, defying all laws physics and actually running over the bridge, cutting the girls off and keeping them from progressing any further.

"Ahhh!" Ako screamed in fright, her friends recoiling in shock.

"Like shooting fish in a barrel," the shadowed figure laughed, sounding female. The voice made the four girls turn to see who it was. The figure decided to oblige the four and step into the light, revealing her full figure for them to see.

She was indeed female, but didn't look anything like a human. Her torso was donned in silver armour that looked like it had clams cupping the breasts and fish fins rising from the shoulders. The arms were covered in blue scales with more fins rising from the forearms while the hands had webbed fingers. the legs were partially concealed by a long skirt styled like fish scales but ended in boots that were silver with metallic barnacles decorating them. The bottom half of the face looked like a porcelain mask with blue lips, but the rest was a silver helmet with several round eye holes with fins rising from the sides. Trailing down from the back of the helmet was a scaled ponytail ending in a fish tail.

"AHHHH!" Makie screamed in fight, gripping onto Yuna's arm for protection

"Oh, don't be frightened little girl," the Mermaid Phantom cooed. "I'm not here for you, even if you would make a wonderful little Gate in the future. I'm here for someone else."

"Wh-wh-who?" Ako trembled, hiding behind Akira.

"Why, the guppie you're hiding behind," the Mermaid Phantom replied, pointing at Akira. "Would you be so kind as to hand her over so I can snap those legs she's so proud of?" Her voice had gone from pleasant to malicious, causing the four teens' faces to go pale in fright in a heartbeat.

Akira was the palest of all, hearing the monster wanting to break her legs.

"No way!" Yuna snapped. She stepped forward although she was obviously afraid. "You're not laying a hand on her!"

"Oh?" the Mermaid Phantom smirked. "Fine, I'll go through all of you to get to her and maybe rise four new Phantoms instead of one." Snapping her fingers, a stream of water rose from the barrier and landed in the Phantom's hand, transforming into a trident. "Now...hold still. I despise getting messy."

The four girls had not expected anything like this happening to them, even with the rumors that were going about. Now it was being proven true right in front of their eyes.

"Medusa-sama and Phoenix-sama wanted me to go after Akira first. I'd better start with her," the Mermaid Phantom raised her spear to attack.

"_**FLAME, PLEASE! HI! HI! HI, HI, HI!**_"

The water barrier behind the girls suddenly exploded with heat and fire with a magic circle being in the middle of it all. Roaring through was a man in a black and ruby outfit riding atop of a motorcycle. Racing past the girls, he lifted a gun before taking aim and firing several rounds at the Phantom.

The Mermaid Phantom cried out as the silver bullets pierced her body. Snarling, she glared at the one who'd dared to interrupt her hunt. "Damn you, Wizard!" The bike skidded to a halt as the masked man in black and red looked at the Phantom.

"What's the matter, Phantom? Did I spoil your hunt? I did, didn't I?" taunted Wizard. He turned his attention to the girls and addressed them, "You should do yourselves all a favor and run. This isn't a place for young girls."

"Who...who are you...?" Makie managed to ask.

"Wizard," he said as he turned to address the Phantom, "Now, it's Showtime."

"Oh, I'll give you a show!" the Mermaid Phantom snapped. "Take this!" A twist of her staff sent another stream of water through the air, crashing towards Wizard at breakneck speeds. Wizard didn't bother to try and fight, he gunned the acceleration to try and avoid the stream. He raced past the Phantom, aiming to pull a U-turn and shoot at the Phantom again. However...

"That won't work!" the Mermaid Phantom shouted, changing the direction of her attack and throwing it at Wizard once again.

"Bollocks," Wizard frowned, revving his machine once again. The space on the bridge wasn't exactly wide but it wasn't narrow either. He managed to roar down the streets, dipping and serving past the trailing stream of water. It crashed down several times against the ground, leaving craters as it went. Still, Wizard kept going, trying to get a bead on the Phantom again with all the dips, turns, and spins but it was slow going.

"This isn't getting me anywhere," Wizard muttered. Holstering the WizarSwordGun, he slipped off his ruby Flame Ring and popped on a sapphire diamond-shaped Water Ring. Flipping the Hand Author, he swiped the ring across the surface.

"_**WATER, PLEASE! SUI~, SUI~, SUI~, SUI~!**_"

A blue magic circle passed over Wizard, changing his crimson armour blue with diamond shapes on the sides of his chest and his faceplate had turned into a blue diamond. Twisting his bike around, Wizard began charging at the Mermaid Phantom once again.

"Losing your mind, Wizard?" laughed the Phantom, redirecting the water stream to attack Wizard. The now blue Rider didn't make himself an easy target by donning a new ring and swiping it over his Hand Author.

"_**LIQUID, PLEASE!**_"

The water streams surged at Wizard, but the Rider's body collapsed into a liquid which vanished into the Mermaid's water attacks. The Phantom was confused by her opponent's disappearance before a stream of water emerged from the attack and struck her in the chest. The impact sent sparks flying as well as the Mermaid Phantom who landed a few feet away from the impact point on her back. The rebellious water surged to the ground, reforming the sapphire blue warrior.

"Now, shall we go for the finale?" asked Wizard, raising his weapon once again.

The Mermaid Phantom hissed but didn't reply. Instead, she slammed her trident into the ground and summoned a vortex of water which swirled around her. It quickly collapsed, leaving a ring of water behind but no Phantom. She had escaped.

"Hn," Wizard sighed. If nothing else, Phantoms were good at running away when they wanted to. Shaking his head, the Kamen Rider turned to head back to his bike and start going on the hunt. Mounting the Machine Winger he gunned the ignition and began driving away before any of the magical teachers came to investigate. He didn't need to be blamed for the attack again.

As Wizard drove away, the four girls who he fought to protect poked their heads out of a nearby alley. Ako was trembling something fierce while Makie tried to comfort her, obviously scared herself. Yuna and Akira on the other hand had their gazes fixed on the bridge where the battle had taken place.

"Did we all see the same thing?" asked Yuna.

"If you mean we saw a guy in armour fighting a monster that could control water, I'd say we saw the same thing," Akira nodded.

"S-s-scary!" Ako trembled.

"It's okay. It's over now," Makie tried to reassure the frightened assistant nurse.

"I'm never doubting Paru's ability to gather gossip again," Yuna shook her head. "Didn't she say that some guy in a suit of armour was spotted running around on campus?"

"Something like that," Akira nodded, her gaze still fixed.

"C-can we please leave?" asked Ako. "I wanna go home!"

Akira and Yuna both blinked before they were at their friend's side in a flash. Helping Ako stand, they began heading down the street to their dorms instead of a karaoke joint. They had enough excitement for the night.

* * *

Negi pulled up to the dorms, checking to see if anyone was around. Seeing that he was, he activated his Connect Ring and pushed his bike back into storage. Sighing, he stuck his hands into his pockets before heading inside. Grabbing the first free elevator, he headed to his floor before turning to reach his room. Passing through the door, he spotted Asuna looking over her notes from the tutoring session.

"How'd it go?" she asked.

"Mermaid Phantom, and it got away," Negi sighed, turning to the kitchen area so he could begin a pot of tea. "It was cornering Ako, Akira, Makie, and Yuna. Obviously one of them is the Gate but which one I just don't know."

"Don't you have some kind of Gate detection thing by now?" asked Asuna.

"If I did, I would be using it right now," Negi replied. "Asuna-san, anybody with magical potential is a Gate. It's obvious when they're trained magi but when it's someone who has no idea they have the potential then it makes figuring it out a little harder. I mean, to know someone has the ability to use magic I kind of have to see them use it in some way."

"But don't you have some kind of means of detecting people like that? I mean, the books have that sort of thing and-" Asuna argued.

"Asuna...Harry Potter is hardly an accurate depiction of the magical world," Negi sighed. "Most magic users are in some way related to the magical world or live in a place where sooner or later they're going to reveal they have that potential. Outside of that, the potential usually goes to waste and no one is the wiser. It's why we create a network of people to alert us to this sort of thing but it's far from perfect."

"But how can those Phantoms know who's a Gate?" Asuna asked.

"I wish I knew, but as far as I can guess is that they have some innate sense about who is a Gate or at least some of them have a special ability to sense them out and send out other Phantoms to do the job," Negi shrugged, pouring the hot water into the teapot. "I don't think I've ever fought one like that. The Phantoms are organized so any of them with that sensory ability are probably going to stay hidden."

"Organized?" Asuna frowned. "What makes you say that?"

Negi retrieved his tea and sat down across from Asuna. He offered her a cup which she took out of courtesy. Negi sighed, "When I survived the Sabbath Ritual, and the Phantoms were born a lot of them took notice of me. Several argued about trying to kill me so the Dragon could come out but a pair of Phantoms nixed that plan. All of the other Phantoms big and small just bowed their heads and obeyed when they spoke."

"Really?" Asuna blinked. "What did they look like?"

"A Phoenix and a Gorgon Phantom," Negi nodded. "Those two are different from the other Phantoms and likely much more powerful. None of the other Phantoms dared argue against them when they said it was time to leave. Only one remained to try and finish me off when the White Wizard saved me."

"Have you seen them since?" asked Asuna. If those two were as powerful and in charge like Negi said, they might be in Mahora!

"Now and then, but they never tried to fight me," Negi shook his head, taking a sip. "Phoenix thinks I'm a funny little boy for trying to fight them and the Gorgon once said I was too cute to kill just yet. They never bother with me themselves."

"If sentai shows taught me anything, then sooner or later that's going to change," Asuna sighed. "You've been getting up in their business ever since you got here."

"That's...not exactly a good source," Negi sweatdropped.

* * *

**Poolside**

The Mermaid Phantom sighed as she emerged from the Mahora pool still in her bathing suit. Red welts were on the visible parts of her skin from where Wizard's bullets had struck her during the battle. She was sore, angry, and tired from taking damage and throwing so much of her power around.

"Having troubles?" Mermaid stiffened as she turned to see Medusa approaching with Phoenix beside her, looking rather displeased.

"The wizard got involved and allowed the Gate to get away," Mermaid replied, quick to place the blame on the Kamen Rider. "When she was long gone, I decided fighting wasn't in my best interest, especially with all of the other magical teachers here."

"Bah, those losers wouldn't stand a chance against the weakest of us!" Phoenix snorted, leaning against the fence.

"I felt that secrecy would be better for us," Mermaid argued. "Especially since Takamichi T. Takahata is employed here as a teacher and protector."

"One of the former members of Ala Rubra," Medusa nodded. "And likely one of the only humans who could destroy a Phantom without the use of Magic Stones. With that debacle Cherub started he likely is aware of our presence and is preparing accordingly."

"So what?" Phoenix grunted. "He's an old man and past his prime. I could take him down no sweat!"

"And how many times would you have to die before he was too tired to fight?" asked Medusa, cutting Phoenix' rant off. "The key to our success is ensuring that the magicals continue to believe we Phantoms are nothing but stories for bad children to be scared by so they will not try to counteract us before it is too late. Takahata has political pull and is likely still in contact with many Ala Rubra members who will come to aid him at a moment's notice if we reveal ourselves recklessly."

"Whatever," the red-clad Phantom grunted.

"That aside," Medusa returned her attention to Mermaid. "There is a strategic retreat and there is cowardice. Don't let this be a continuing trend."

"Of course not Medusa-sama," Mermaid bowed.

* * *

**Mahora Dormitories - Izumi/Sasaki Residence**

The quartet of sports girls returned to Ako and Makie's room to try and recover from the shock they had been dealt that night. Ako was still terrified with Makie a close second. Both were being treated with blankets on their shoulders and hot cocoa to try and soothe their nerves. So far, it seemed to be working. Akira and Yuna on the other hand were brimming with questions about what they had seen. That monster had been too realistic to be anything but real no matter how much common sense said otherwise.

Akira herself was likely the most unnerved out of the group even if she didn't show it. The monster had specifically gone after her, aiming to break her legs or worse. The malice coming off the creature was scary enough, but having it all pointed at her was terrifying.

Monsters were supposed to be the stuff of nightmares and movies, not real life. What was going on? Where had it come from? Why did it want to hurt her? What did she do to make it want that? Would it try to go after her friends again? It all served to make Akira feel slightly ill.

"Okay, I'm all for hunting down Paru and pumping all information about this armoured guy out of her!" Yuna announced hotly. "I want to know just what the heck all that at the bridge was about!"

"D-D-Do you think it might come back?" asked Ako with a tremble in her voice.

"I hope not," Makie mumbled.

"Girls," spoke up Akira, "That thing was coming after me. It looked right at me, told me it wanted to break my legs."

"Yeah...it did say that didn't it?" Yuna frowned. "Why would it want to do that? Do you think someone from one of Mahora's rivals summoned a demon or something to get back at you after you won that swim meet for us?"

"Yeah, that Kikajima girl from Hakoniwa Academy seemed pretty mad at you when you won that prize money," Makie nodded.

"I don't know...but that thing is still out there," said Akira. "What do we do?"

"How about we ask Negi-sensei?" Makie suggested.

"How would Negi-sensei know about monsters and stuff?" asked Yuna. "It's not like he's some kind of magician or something."

"Yeah, but he's smart!" Makie insisted.

"Maybe w-we could ask one of the occult research clubs?" suggested Ako timidly. "They might know."

"Now that's an idea!" Yuna grinned, pointing at her friend. "Those nerds research all sorts of weird stuff! We can just ask them and figure out what's going on! If they don't know then probably no one does!"

"Let's hope they do know something," Akira sighed. "That will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm not going outside tonight."

A chorus of agreements chimed in with her.

* * *

**Kagurazaka/Konoe/Springfield Residence**

"Which one of them was the target Gate?" Negi wondered out loud as he sat at the kotatsu. The population of Mahora had a large abundance of Gates but a Phantom would only target a specific Gate. Part of the trouble was trying to figure out who that Gate could be sometimes. Not all of the Phantoms were straightforward in their assaults. Some would attack people associated with the Gate rather than the Gate himself which more than once sent Negi on the wrong path and left the true Gate at risk.

Hoping for an idea or at least something to give him a lead, Negi was looking at his class roster at the four girls. All four of them were parts of different sports clubs. Gymnastics, soccer, swimming, and basketball. They were certainly all an athletic bunch but it didn't offer any insight into which of the group was the Gate the Mermaid Phantom was after.

"Hey, it's getting late," said Asuna, watching Negi studying so intently. "You should get some sleep."

"Oh?" Negi looked up at the wall clock. "Right...right..." He yawned.

"Are you OK?" she asked.

"Just mana depletion," he said. "I'll be OK after a good night's rest." He asked, "Where's Konoka-san?"

"Having dinner with her grandfather so she'll be back late," said Asuna. "So, what's keeping you up so late?"

"One of those four girls was the target Gate," said Negi. "Which one, I'm not sure."

Asuna frowned, seeing the profiles of the four in question that Negi was studying. Again, she wasn't really all that close or chummy with Yuna, Ako, or Akira and Makie was more or less an acquaintance since they were both Baka Rangers. Still, hearing that a Phantom was chasing one of them with the intent to kill them made her blood boil. Before she could make a snide comment about Phantoims, she was distracted by a knock at the door.

"That must be Konoka," said Asuna. She opened the door but instead of her roommate was a mailman with a wrapped up box in his hands. "Huh?"

"I have a package for Negi Springfield," said the mailman as he held up the box. "Could someone sign for this, please?"

"Isn't it a bit late for deliveries?" Asuna asked. Mailmen never delivered packages directly to the dorm rooms before. The residents had mailboxes for letters and such but packages just had the recipient get a notice so they could pick it up from the post office. This had the marking of something strange written all over it.

"Special delivery," the man replied, allowing Asuna to place her signature on the papers before he handed the package over to her. "Thank you." He left and Asuna closed the door.

"Hey, Negi! There's a package here for you," Asuna said.

"Huh?" Negi perked up, sucked into his studies on his four students. "For me? This late?"

"I know, but it has your name on it," Asuna replied, tossing the box to him. "Here."

Negi caught the box and set it down on the kotatsu. Swiftly untying the string and tearing the paper, he found inside a white box with a magic circle embossed in gold on top of the lid. Unlike Negi's circle though the gem-like face in the centre had curved eyes. Negi smiled at the sight. "So, he managed to deliver."

"Who?" Asuna asked curiously.

"Back home there is someone that makes my rings," said Negi. "He taught me how to make Wizard Rings as part of my training. I only ever made my attack rings with the orange Magic Stones though. He made my transformation rings."

Negi undid the tape holding the package closed before opening the lid. Negi and Asuna's faces were immediately showered in red light as they took a look at what was inside. Held in foam packaging was what looked like a sizable hunk of raw ruby which had a glowing core in the centre. Asuna could feel heat splashing on her face as if she were sitting at a bonfire, feeling rather comfortable.

"What is this thing Negi?" she asked.

"This Asuna-san, is a raw Magic Stone," Negi spoke almost reverently. "This is raw magical energy which was compounded under pressure and crystallized into a solid substance. The colour and the heat coming off of it makes me think it's fire elemental magic so any rings would probably work best with my Flame Style."

"What are you going to do with it," asked the orangette.

Negi frowned, gazing at the rock, "The White Wizard is testing me. I've never had to make a ring out of anything but the most common and basic Magic Stones. The elemental ones are more volatile and making a ring is hard enough."

"What's so hard about it?" Asuna frowned.

"The hard part is refining the crystal enough so that I can fit it into a ring without damaging the magic inside," Negi explained. "One crack will allow the magic to escape and the Magic Stone will likely explode. The refined stone also has to be as small as possible since the less crystal to get in the way the more effective casting the spell will be. Less resistance and all that since the crystal can actually block the magic in the core."

"How do you know what the spell will do?" Asuna was now really interested in all this Magic Stone stuff. The ruby rock in front of her looked downright incredible and she was half tempted to ask if she could get a piece of jewelry out of it herself.

"That's the hard part. I never do until it's done and I test it out," Negi sighed. "It could be an incredibly powerful ring or something completely useless."

"What do you mean by 'useless'?" Asuna asked. How could magic be useless?

"Magic effects all things from the elements to aspects of the body," Negi explained. "For all we know, this stone could only make smoke or just cause the air to warm up on a cold day. Not exactly helpful against a Phantom. All I know is that it will involve fire and heat."

"So, do you need anything else to make a ring?" asked Asuna.

"I have the tools," said Negi. "All I need is a workshop."

Asuna frowned slightly, trying to think of a place she knew which would fit the bill, "Well, there are plenty of arts and crafts clubs in the school that have workspaces for things like this. Although those guys usually make plastic jewelry for their boyfriends or families."

"That sounds great," said Negi.

"But I bet making a ring takes a lot of time," Asuna added. "And you do have a job as a teacher."

"I know. Free time is fast becoming a precious commodity," Negi nodded. He had his teaching responsibilities which he couldn't neglect both to keep his co-workers in the dark about Wizard as well as his own sense of morals. "Still, I'll have to make time if I want to finish this ring. It might mean the difference between life or death against this Phantom and more."

"Life or death," Asuna repeated. She looked at Negi. He was around her age, just a kid, and yet he was taking up so many responsibilities. He was a wizard, a teacher, and he needed to fight the Phantoms. It was a wonder that he hadn't snapped a long time ago if he had his Wizard responsibilities weighing down on him. "You should get some sleep."

"You're right," agreed Negi as he rubbed his eye. He closed the package and tucked it under his arm as he headed for his living space. "I'll need to be up early for a staff meeting anyway. Goodnight Asuna."

"Goodnight Negi."

To Be Continued...

* * *

A/N: Okay, we see the beginnings of another adventure, but also the start of what will become a new Wizard Ring for Negi. Negi's receiving pressure from all sides in his duties as a teacher and warrior. The pressure seems to be starting to strain on him. Can he handle it enough to rescue his students from the newest Phantom threat?


	5. Oceans of Hope

I do not own Negima or Kamen Rider Wizard. They belong to their respective owners and not me. I am only writing this for fun and not for profit. I only hope that all of you enjoy the story as you have been so far.

**Mahou Ridaa Negima!**

**By Ten-Faced Paladin**

**Chapter 5: Oceans of Hope**

Mahora's arts and crafts club was actually a high demand group of individuals. They were usually the ones clubs like drama, music, and other such clubs would ask them to help them out with some of their projects like costumes, props, and other things. Not that they couldn't do it themselves, but having someone who had more enthusiasm and skill for the job was always better. The room itself they used was one of the art classrooms which had tools and other supplies were kept for easy access. Brushes, paper, glue, thread, wool, and the various other knick-knacks the club members would need to put their projects or projects their friends wanted together.

At the moment, only one person was in the room at work. The sun was barely above the horizon, making it unusual that anyone would be there at such an early hour. Still, for what this occupant was working on and his daily responsibilities, the early hours were understandable.

Negi kept the sleep out of his eyes as he sat in a chair, his jacket hung on the back and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Spread out in front of him were several hand tools used to help shape uncut gemstones. Directly in front of him was a hunk of what looked like raw ruby stone which he was slowly grinding down, trying to make it smaller. He was take great care in making sure he didn't create any cracks in the gemstone, treating his possession like a bomb that may go off. Considering what the ruby rock was, that comparison wasn't entirely wrong.

What Negi was working on was a hunk of raw Magic Stone, the likes of which he would use to power his Wizard Rings. He had received the Magic Stone through the mail from the White Wizard. Up until this point, Negi had only helped create his regular Wizard Rings with Orange Magic Stone. This was the first time he had ever worked with the Red Magic Stone. What made it different besides the colour was that the Red Magic Stone was formed from fire elemental magic. It was the reason why it was red and gave off warmth to anyone nearby.

Elemental Magic Stone was inherently more dangerous to work with than the Orange Magic Stone. Orange Magic Stone was created under pressure with regular magic which wasn't aligned with any of the elements. It didn't pack much punch so even if the stone was damaged and the magic released, it was quite similar to a firecracker going off. Of course the intensity depended on the size of the Stone but that was it. The Red Magic Stone Negi was working on was more dangerous because of the fire magic trapped inside. If a crack touched the core of the stone then the whole thing would go up like a stick of dynamite. It would actually be worse since fire magic was more destructive than any of the other elements.

Sighing, Negi set down his tools and looked at his work space. He had managed to grind the Red Magic Stone down so that it looked like a large oval rather than a hunk of raw ruby. Around it were his various tools as well as the shavings from the stone itself. He'd have to clean those up before he left. Even if they were separated from the core of the stone, Magic Stone fragments still had some power to them. The going price for simple fragments on the MagiNet was astronomical even with the fact that the pieces didn't have any significant power of their own.

Trying to refine the crystal was always tricky. In the very centre of the formation was raw magic energy which when used against the Grimoire Stone inside his WizarDriver would cause it to activate. What the Wizard Ring would do was anyone's guess until it was used. All that could be confirmed was that this ring would have something to do with fire. He just had to make sure he got the stone small enough to mount in a ring without damaging the magic core.

"Whew," Negi sighed, wiping his brow. "Progress at least."

"Working hard Negi-kun?"

Negi choked on his saliva, turning around to see Takahata standing in the doorway to the room with an easy smile on his lips and a cigarette between his fingers.

"T-Takamichi!" Negi gasped, "Uh...when did you get there?"

"A little while ago," the elder teacher shrugged, not moving from his perch. "Working on that housewarming gift for Konoka and Asuna?"

"S-Something like that," Negi chuckled weakly, making sure the Magic Stone was hidden from sight. He had to furiously remind himself that Takamichi couldn't sense magic...he hoped. If he learned about the Magic Stone, Negi could probably kiss it goodbye. Handling one was something only experts could do and despite his experience, Negi didn't count.

"Well, don't let Asuna's attitude get you down," Takahata chuckled. "She's a good kid. Just give it a good try during those lessons and you two will be friends in no time."

"I hope so," Negi nodded, not mentioning that he and the orangette were beginning to get along.

"Chin up Negi. You'll pull it off," Takahata smiled, waving goodbye before he left. Negi watched him leave before heaving a sigh of relief.

"Too close," the Welsh teen muttered. Sighing, he collected his tools before taking a brush and beginning to clean up his workspace of Magic Stone shards. Once the space was clean, he picked up his belongings and headed for the teacher's lounge.

He had a lessons to plan for.

* * *

**Mahora Plaza**

Yuna, Makie, Ako, and Akira had spent most of the day in a trance. Their minds just weren't on their lessons. Being attacked by monsters would tend to do that to just about anyone. They couldn't have told you for the life of them what their day's lessons up until the lunch hour were about. They were bursting at the seam to go out for lunch. They had gotten a lead about the monster they saw. One of the seniors in the University Occult Research Club said they may have heard of something like what the four had seen.

When the lunch bell finally rung, the four were already heading for the door so they could go and meet the members of the club in question. They stormed out of the school and met in one of the plazas which surrounded Mahora Junior High. The seniors had a much different schedule than they did so they had the time to spare in a few cases.

"There they are!" Makie cried, pointing out to a bunch of university guys sitting in the plaza. They were easy to point out since they all were wearing black cloaks over their shoulders. One was even drinking from looked like a goblet with smoke or steam coming out of it.

"Hm?" one of the group looked up to see the Junior High girls running for them. He had black hair and was wearing sunglasses, making him look like he almost wanted to avoid the sun. Seeing the four schoolgirls, he waved, "Oh, are one of you Professor Akashi's daughter? We have an appointment with her for noon."

"That's us!" Yuna nodded, dragging her friends to the admittedly creepy-looking men. "You guys have got to help us!"

"If your problem has to deal with supernatural forces, we will do our best to help you," the lead member tried to reassure them.

Yuna and Makie immediately began to leaping into explanations as to what had happened to them the previous night. Ako and Akira supplied where they could, but their more energetic friends typically took the lead. To their credit, the club members stayed and listened, even when the girls described the monster as mermaid-like and the guy with the red crystal armour that turned blue later. Anyone else would have called them crazy or the victim of an elaborate prank.

"I see, I see," the leader of the group nodded, looking deep in thought. He and his comrades looked a whole lot more interested than before. "So you say this creature that attacked you bore a kind of resemblance to a mermaid but was not one even with it's water abilities?"

"Looked like it to me," Yuna nodded.

"Then it is fortunate you escaped thanks to that stranger's help," the leader spoke solemnly. "For you see, what that creature was is what we in the know call a Phantom."

"A Phantom?" the four girls echoed.

"A terrible creature which preys on people who hold the potential to wield magic," the leader of the club explained. "They hunt down all people who could cast even the smallest of spells and then drown them in despair. In the middle of that despair, a new Phantom is born and will break out of the host, stealing their identity."

"Drown us in despair?" Ako frowned. "How awful."

"Oh! I got it!" Makie gasped. "That's why it wanted to break your legs Akira-chan! It knows that swimming's your life!"

"Mn," Akira frowned. Swimming was her life and if she ended up losing the use of her legs she likely would just fall into despair. Still, how did that so-called Phantom know that about her? Sure, she was well-known in the Junior High and the High School was eagerly anticipating her graduation but that was it. She wasn't famous anywhere else.

"Okay, so how do we get rid of the thing then? When that jewel guy shot at it, it seemed to really hurt!" Yuna crossed her arms.

"Well bullets always hurt but there's one thing that I know that a Phantom cannot touch and that's pure silver," the leader of the club explained. "What few books we've managed to keep out of our advisor's view say that they can't stand the stuff. Just touching them with it causes burns for them."

"Okay so we wear silver stuff then," Makie nodded. "We're all Junior High girls. I'm pretty sure we've all got some."

"Actual silver, not some cheap reflective metal," the club leader replied, making Makie duck her head slightly.

"Um...I...I might," Ako volunteered. "I can share..."

"I think my mom had some too," Yuna nodded, looking quite serious. "She loved trinkets like that. I'll have to check at home with Dad."

"Then I wish you luck," the club leader bowed to the four. "Phantoms reportedly don't give up for anything except death. If this 'jewel man' exists then he may be your only hope to be free."

"By the time you see us again, we'll be Phantom free!" Yuna grinned. "Don't worry about us!"

The girls took their cue to leave needing to get lunch of their own. The occult research club only watched them go, some already writing up talismans to try and help them out.

* * *

**Teacher's Lounge**

"Achoo!"

Negi glanced up from his paperwork. For some reason, he was feeling like he had missed something rather important that he was going to regret later. For the life of him though he couldn't begin to guess what that might be.

"It'll probably hit me when I'm in bed tonight," Negi sighed to himself, moving back to read over his paperwork.

"My most important thoughts hit me there too."

Negi almost did a spit take in shock, being surprised for the second time that day. Spinning in his chair, he spied Shizuna tittering in amusement at what she did. It took a moment for Negi to try and get his heart beat back under control, "You scared me Shizuna-sensei."

"Sorry Negi-kun," Shizuna giggled. "I just wanted to check up on you. How did the after school lessons go last night?"

"Oh," Negi sighed. He pulled out his notes on the Baka Rangers. "Well, Yue showed that if she just studied then she would be passing so I don't think that she's having difficulties with the material. Makie just needs to pay a bit more attention and she'll be able to bring her grades up. Ku Fei and Kaede may have their focus on areas other than English so there may be some difficulties there. Asuna..." Negi couldn't help but grimace. "She has the drive...but it's like English is going to be a third language instead of a second with how much difficulty she's exhibiting."

"Everyone learns at their own paces," Shizuna tried to reassure the young man. "You just have to keep trying. It must have taken you some time to learn Japanese."

"Three weeks," Negi scratched his cheek. The answer made Shizuna sweatdrop. "I'm a fast learner." Negi had a gift for languages and it allowed him to pick up Japanese pretty quickly. It certainly helped him in his classes since Latin was a must when it came to magic.

"Well, just be patient and work hard Negi-kun," Shizuna chuckled weakly. "Asuna will come through."

"I have faith," Negi sighed. "But I'm going to need more to get through this."

Shizuna gave Negi a well-meaning smile before she headed off to complete her own paperwork. Negi turned back to his own papers. As he tried to concentrate on what to do for his next lesson, his mind eventually trailed back to the Mermaid Phantom. It was still active and out in Mahora somewhere. Other than what he saw in their first skirmish, he knew next to nothing about it. It wasn't a state of being that one who hunted Phantoms liked being in.

"I do know four possible targets though," Negi pondered, tapping his pencil against his lips. Searching through his papers, he dug out his student roster and found the four pictures of Yuna, Makie, Ako, and Akira. "Maybe looking into them may help."

Looking up to the clock, Negi decided that he could call it an early day so he could go explore the campus a little and get to know his student. Also, his Familiars were probably low on mana by now and would need another recharge from him.

* * *

**Mahora Streets**

Another day of school ended and the students raced about to either go have fun or go enjoy their club activities. Among them was of course Akira Okochi walking towards the Junior High athletics building with a duffel bag slung over her shoulder. She looked as normal as ever, but she had a tight grip on the strap to her gym back as several silver bracelets chimed against each other on her wrist. Each one was decorated with either red, blue, yellow, or green stones. Each of them were on loan from Yuna who had raided her mother's jewelry box for as much silver as she could find. Fortunately, she found a lot of it for her friends and armed them all. Akira felt a little bad taking them since Yuna had kept the box and the pieces inside as a memento of her late mother. Still, the energetic basketball player had insisted, showing just how good a friend she was in wanting to protect her friends. They were late for class since a train ride was required to get back to the dorms but it was worth it.

Eyeing the four bracelets on her wrist, Akira silently prayed that the boys from the university Occult Research Club knew what they were talking about.

"Akira!" a voice called, bringing Akira's attention back to reality. Looking about, she saw her upperclassman.

"Oh, Melissa-sempai," Akira nodded. "Ready for practice?"

"Actually, there's something really important I wanted to talk to you about," said Melissa. "Could you spare me a bit of your time?"

"Well," Akira frowned. "I'm kind of running late at the moment. Can it wait at least until we get changed and keep the captain from punishing us or something?"

"It will only take a moment," the other girl smiled, taking Akira's wrist.

_*sssssss*_

"OKOCHI! THORTON! Move your butts! We've got a meet to prepare for and I don't want to rely on just our ace to win it! Let's go!"

"Ah! Right Coach!" Akira gasped, turning to the athletics building where a woman in gym clothes was standing with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. Akira ran for the door to the building while her sempai remained for a moment, the coach distracted by her Ace's arrival.

The one publicly known as Melissa Thorton grimaced, obviously in extreme pain as the palm of her hand was blackened with blue, green, yellow, and red sparks falling from the wound. Her teeth were clenched while blue markings flashed over her face, revealing her identity as the Mermaid Phantom.

"Tsk!" she growled, schooling her features human or otherwise. "Where the hell did a mundane get her hands on so much enchanted silver?-!" The silver had hurt her but at least she knew where she shouldn't touch Akira. However, her target Gate was still well-protected. How was she supposed to force her target into despair without getting physical? One wrong move could plant that silver in her face where it could deal some serious damage to her eyes or other sensitive areas. Silver burned a Phantom's skin, but ingesting it or otherwise getting it inside of them made it toxic.

She was going to need to ask for some help and advice from Medusa.

* * *

**Nurse's Office**

The first stop in Negi's investigation into his four students was Ako Izumi who was the closest and easiest to find. She was an assistant nurse to Shizuna who could often be found at the Nurse's Office when she wasn't taking care of her duties for the Junior High Boys Soccer Team. So Negi headed there first to see if he could talk to Ako about some 'rumours' he heard about monster attacks, see how she would react to them, and then leave a PlaMonster to watch over her while he went to meet with the others.

Finding the office in question, He softly knocked on the door out of politeness before opening it, "Hello?"

"Hm?" Ako's voice rose before her head came out from behind one of the cloth barriers which separated the beds. "Oh, Negi-sensei! Do you need some help with something?"

"Nothing quite like that," Negi shook his head. "I wanted to take the opportunity to get to know my students a little better. I saw that you liked to work with the Shizuna-san so I thought I'd come say hello and talk a little bit."

"Oh," Ako blinked, but she then smiled. She stepped out to talk to her teacher properly revealing she was wearing silver bands on her fingers which had eloquent writing on them. He instantly recognized them as charmed, but of the protective variety. "Okay. I don't really think there's anything all that interesting about me though."

"Oh come on," Negi chuckled, entering the room. "Everyone has something interesting about them. You're working both as an assistant manager in your club and as a nurse's assistant. That sounds like it has an interesting story behind it."

"Not really," Ako tittered, but she was happy that her teacher thought so well of her. "I have a phobia of blood so I thought that working as Shizuna-sensei's assistant would help me get over it. I love soccer though but I wanted to do more than just play so I volunteered to help manage the boys team."

"I see," Negi nodded. "And you think that isn't an interesting thing about you? You're very brave to try and face something that scares you like a phobia. Most people try to just avoid what scares them. I know I did while I was afraid of the dark when I was small. I didn't get over it for years until my older sister decided it was time I got over it and locked me in a dark room with her."

It wasn't a lie on Negi's part. After the ritual which turned so many of his fellow villagers into Phantoms, Negi had been terrified of the dark to the point he refused to enter anywhere without a light on someplace and he wouldn't stray far from it. Nekane worried he was soon getting too old to be afraid of something like the dark and in an effort to cure him of it, locked Negi and herself in a dark room until he could finally relax and not panic without lights on in the room. It took several hours of clutching Nekane like a comfort doll, but Negi had managed to overcome his fear. Anya still made fun of him about it sometimes though.

"Wow," Ako gasped. "I guess sometimes I forget other people have some serious fear, don't I?"

"Phobias aren't things people like to admit to since they're afraid that sometimes they can seem silly to other people," Negi replied. "Being able to face what scares you of your own initiative makes you a brave person Ako-san."

"Oh...I'm not all that brave," Ako shook her head, blushing slightly. "When I try to deal with why I'm afraid of blood it's easy. I can back away anytime I want since I have Shizuna-sensei helping me. If I was really brave I could have tried to do something the other night."

"The other night?" asked Negi, playing ignorant.

"I...well..." Ako sputtered, looking down at the floor in shyness.

"Ako-san, did someone try to hurt you?" asked Negi with a frown. He hated having to play dumb, but it was the only way since he had a responsibility to try and keep magic a secret and that included Phantoms if he could help it.

"Um...oh...ah..." Ako sputtered. "I-Its nothing. We got away and that person got beaten up by someone else anyway."

Negi frowned, internally disappointed that he wasn't going to get any more information from Ako. She was clammed up and she didn't seem to want to talk anymore.

"Okay, if you're sure," Negi nodded. "Anyway, I still have a few more stops to make. Please feel free to come to me for anything, okay Ako-san?"

"Hai Negi-sensei," the shy assistant nurse nodded with a weak smile.

Nodding, Negi turned and left the nurse's office, letting Ako get back to her work. Stepping outside, he shut the door before checking around. Once seeing that he was truly alone in the hall, he dug out one of his rings. Slipping it on, he passed it over the Hand Author.

"_**KRAKEN, PLEASE!**_"

The yellow and silver pieces appeared before assembling the familiar PlaMonster. Slipping off the ring, Negi placed it in the construct and brought it to life, "Keep an eye on Ako-san. Make sure the Phantom doesn't try to bring her down again."

Kraken let off a tiny squeak before flying to the door and opening it a crack so it could slip through. When it was gone, Negi headed down the hall to find the rest of the group of four girls from his class. Ako seemed to be safe for the time being, but he still had to find Akira, Makie, and Yuna. The Phantom still had a lead on him for who its target might be. He had to move fast if he wanted to beat it to the punch!

* * *

**Phantom Bar**

Melissa (Mermaid) met up with Phoenix and Medusa at their usual hangout, which had been left abandoned after Cherub's defeat. She arrived to see Medusa sitting at the bar with a drink while Phoenix was kicked back and relaxing on one of the cushy bench seats. Melissa knew that abandoning the club activities of her human identity was taking a risk, but it was an emergency damn it!

"Have you put your assigned Gate to despair?" Medusa asked as she swirled her drink in her glass.

"N-n-no," said Melissa nervously. Medusa's eyes flashed purple and several bottles up on the shelves shattered. "AH!" Melissa cried.

"Hey, fish-girl," said Phoenix, looking up from his spot. "You should know better than to come empty-handed. It's just one girl. What's the holdup?"

"It's that Wizard, and now that girl has blessed silver bracelets protecting her! How am I supposed to force her into despair if I can't touch her?" questioned Melissa.

Medusa sighed, sounding like an adult talking to an ignorant child, "There are a lot of ways to put your target into despair. If you can't do it directly, then try indirectly. Start with her friends or find the source of her hope and dreams."

"She loves swimming," said Melissa, stating the obvious.

"And what else?" asked Medusa.

"Well, she always talked about this fish she keeps as a pet," frowned Melissa. "She talks about it like it was family or something. Everyone on the team hates the damn thing." Akira was supposed to teach it how to swim for a project or something but she ended up keeping it. "She once said that she got into swimming because she wanted to know what it was like for a fish."

"Then you have your answer," Medusa replied. "That fish is the inspiration of her dreams. Take it away and she will just as quickly fall into despair as if you broke her legs."

"A fish," Phoenix snorted. "How stupid."

"That's because humans _are _stupid. They put all their hopes into a stupid dream or trinkets," said Medusa. "That's what makes it so easy to drive them to despair."

"This won't take a minute," Melissa grinned, heading for the door of the Phantom Bar.

* * *

**Gymnasium**

The sounds of sports being played and balls being bounced filled the room as the various sports teams practiced hard for their games. Negi entered one entrance to the room and made like he was exploring the place, which technically he was. He just had another goal in mind as he searched for some familiar faces. Fortunately, it didn't take him long to find them.

Coming to one of the basketball courts, he saw a few members of Mahora's basketball team working hard to make their school proud. As the teen teacher understood, as much as Mahora was praised for a number of its sports and academic accomplishments, basketball was not one of them.

Hands in his pockets, Negi found a spot near the bleachers to watch but close enough to the girls sitting out he could talk to them. It didn't take long to spot the girl in particular that he was looking for.

"Come on!" Yuna shouted from her own seat. "You keep leaving yourself open on the right! Keep your head up! This is why you keep getting blindsided! Sheesh!"

Yuna hadn't seen him arrive, which allowed Negi to take notice of something about her. No, it wasn't that he was transfixed by her beauty or bust size or any hormonal reason like that. It was that he took notice of a silver chain necklace she was wearing that had red, green, yellow, and blue gemstones embedded in it. He would have to be a downright mundane to be unable to tell that there was something magical about the piece, but it was such a subtle charm that he doubted Yuna even knew that what she had was magical at all. Often magical people sold low-level charms or trinkets to mundanes for a little bit of profit. Fortunately, this one seemed to be on the up and up.

'_Maybe it will be enough to protect Yuna from the Phantom,_' Negi thought hopefully to himself. Still, this saved him the trouble of thinking of a countermeasure in case the Phantom was coming after Yuna.

"Still,I'm not one to leave things in half-measures," Negi muttered to himself. Slipping on a ring, he passed it over the Hand Author.

"_**UNICORN, PLEASE!**_"

The noise from the sports teams prevented anyone from hearing the spell cast and everyone was too focused on the sports to see the PlaMonster materialize. Inserting the ring into the construct to give it life, Negi whispered its orders. Neighing the little unicorn trotted over to Yuna's gym bag and hid underneath her towel.

"Hm?" Yuna's head turned slightly as if she heard or saw something from the corner of her eye. She easily spotted her teacher, making her grin, "Hey Negi-kun! Here to watch the excitement?"

"Something like that," Negi smiled back.

* * *

**Mahora Dormitories**

Melissa walked through the front doors of the dormitories but she didn't stop at the one she had been assigned when she first came to Mahora under the guise of a regular student. Instead, she went up to the second-year dorms where Akira was rooming. It was painfully obvious where she was since her name was on a plate attached to the door.

Reaching said door, she tried it but found it locked. Sighing, she clenched her arm, allowing it to transform into it's true appearance from her Phantom form. A flick of the wrist then caused a spurt of water which formed into her trident. Stabbing it between the frame and the door, Melissa gave a sharp yank which broke the lock and opened the door for her.

"Splendid," she smirked. Stepping into the room, she looked for her prize and quickly discovered it. Wallowing in a fish tank was the arowana that Akira seemed so proud to have. It was oddly still as it stared at Melissa through its fishy eyes.

"Don't look at me that way you worm," she hissed, walking to the tank and picking it up. "At least show some dignity before you die and help further Wiseman's cause would you?"

The fish only blew out some bubbles, making Melissa 'tsk' before she unplugged the devices on the tank and carried it out of the room.

* * *

**Gymnasium**

It wasn't too hard to find Makie after chatting with Yuna for a while. She was on the other side of the gymnasium working on her routines with her teammates. Negi was a little fearful of trying to talk to her while she was at practice though. Rhythmic gymnastics was while a sport, the kind of thing that watching teenage girls practice for tended to get teenage boys in trouble. He'd seen enough of his fellow students get chased out of the practice area by the angry team while he was in school back in Wales.

As expected, Makie was there moving in a twirl of ribbon and lace. Again, Negi noticed she was wearing a few rings on her fingers that were silver bands with writing on them and like before, they were magical. Where were his students getting those trinkets? Shaking his head, he decided it didn't matter for the moment. What did matter was getting a pair of eyes on Makie so if the Phantom returned he'd be able to do something about it.

"Here goes," Negi muttered, swiping another ing over the Hand Author.

"_**GARUDA, PLEASE!**_"

The PlaMonster was quickly constructed away from prying eyes before being brought to life. With a twee, it took off for the rafters where it could keep a strict eye on Makie when Negi couldn't. Task complete, the Welsh teen headed for the exit...

"Negi-kun! Negi-kun! You came to watch!" Makie's cheering voice cried out. "Sit down! I'll show you my newest routine!"

'_Bollocks,_' Negi thought to himself.

* * *

**Mahora Pool**

As always, Akira was the last one still swimming even after all the girls were done with club activities for the day. Strange that Melissa had gone but maybe she got a stomach ache or something. Akira knew the girl was just as dedicated to swimming as she was. Still, she knew that there was no point in pushing oneself to the point of being unhealthy for a sport. Speaking of which, Akira decided to take a break herself. When she was starting to get out of the pool, she saw Melissa.

"Thorton-sempai?" Akira asked Melissa who smiled at her.

"Practicing late, I see," smirked Melissa. "Good, because I brought you a gift. Look over there." She pointed to what appeared to be a box covered in black cloth. She went over and pulled the cloth away, revealing the fish tank containing Akira's pet, Yamamoto.

"Yamamoto!" Akira gasped.

"I brought him here to see you sink into despair," said Melissa. That was when her features began to change as her body morphed.

* * *

Negi was on his way to the pool after escaping Makie. The excitable gymnast insisted on showing Negi her new routine which turned into two, then three routines, eating up precious time. As much as he was growing fond of his students, sometimes they could wear on his patience.

That was when he heard a loud scream.

"Blast!" he cursed, running for the scene.

* * *

Ropes made of water bound Akira as the Mermaid Phantom was tapping on the fish tank tauntingly with her trident.

"I never understood why you loved this thing so much," the Mermaid Phantom commented, tapping the tank with her trident. "It's ugly, hardly moves, and it doesn't do anything for me. I mean, why keep a fish that doesn't even make for a decent meal? It's stupid!"

"Leave him alone!" Akira cried out, struggling against the tendrils.

"Now, to kill this stupid fish and drive you to despair!" said the Mermaid Phantom as she raised her trident to smash the fishtank.

"NOOOOO!" Akira screamed. "THORTON-SEMPAI! NOOOOOO!"

**BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!**

Silver bullets flew through the hair, flying across the pool, before hitting the Mermaid Phantom, sending her flying and crashing to the floor with a loud thud. With the Phantom's concentration broken, the water ropes binding Akira dissolved. Negi dashed over to her and helped her up.

"Okochi-san!" said Negi. "Hurry, run!"

Akira nodded and ran, but not before picked up the fish tank containing Yamamoto.

"Don't you dare run away!" shouted the Mermaid Phantom as she threw Ghoul Stones. Ghouls grew from the stones, blocking Akira's exits and she backed away in fear. Negi gritted his teeth and fired several more rounds which impacted against the Ghouls, knocking them down as quickly as they got up. Akira took the opportunity to flee, taking Yamamoto with her.

"Phantom," said Negi as he passed the Driver On Ring over his Hand Author.

"_**DRIVER ON, PLEASE!**_"

"I remember you now," Negi frowned, turning to face the Mermaid Phantom while the Ghouls began to recover. "Melissa Thorton. She was just a teenage girl who was training at our school for her mastery in the healing arts. I hear she was near the top of her class when it came to water manipulation."

"Cry me a river," the Mermaid Phantom snorted. "Might explain my element and why I do so love to swim."

"You already took one innocent person's life thanks to Wiseman's selfish plots," Negi snarled, growing angry at the callousness of the Phantom's words as he set the Hand Author to point to the right. "I won't let you drive one of _my_ students into despair! Henshin!"

"_**WATER, PLEASE! SUI SUI SUI SUI~**_"

He then passed another ring over the Hand Author. A blue magic circle appeared and passed over Negi, transforming him into Wizard's azure Water Style. When the transformation was complete with a splash of water-like energy, he raised his weapon, "Now, it's showtime."

He charged at the Mermaid Phantom as Ghouls stood in his way. He switched the WizardSwordGun to Sword Mode and slashed at the monsters, cutting a path towards his target. Once up close and personal, he swung and his attack connected with her trident.

"Let's go for a swim, Wizard!" said Mermaid as she went for the pool, dragging Wizard along before they both fell in with a splash.

Mermaid quickly took advantage of the area, transforming her legs into a fish tail which allowed her to splash about and surge through the water like she was an actual fish instead of a kaijin. Several times she swam past Wizard, striking him with her trident and knocking him in all directions. It was fortunate that Water Style allowed him to breathe underwater, since any other style would have drowned him.

"Not going to last like this," Wizard grunted, swapping out rings. "What was the saying, master your environment?" Setting the Hand Author, he swiped the ring across it.

"_**LIQUID, PLEASE!**_"

The Mermaid Phantom turned to strike Wizard once again when he suddenly dissolved into the water, causing the Phantom to stop in confusion.

"What?" she frowned.

Her confusion turned to pain when the water around her began to surge and strike her like blades sending her in all directions instead of Wizard. Several strikes landed before a well-placed uppercut sent the Mermaid Phantom sailing out of the water with a scream of pain. She landed heavily on the sidewalk, gasping for air while her legs returned to normal. Behind her, a large portion of water slithered out of the pool before forming into Wizard in his blue armour.

"Normally I'm the merciful type, but I know that will never work with you," Wizard frowned, lifting his weapon. "So I'm afraid I'm going to have to finish this and go see if my student has been traumatized or not." He opened up his weapon's mounted Hand Author and brought his left hand against it. "This is the finale."

"Yes, for you!" the Mermaid Phantom sneered. Summoning more water from the pool, she coiled it around her legs and rocketed herself forward like a torpedo. She crashed into Wizard, sending them both through the air and smashing through the fence surrounding the pool. They both cut through he air for several feet before crashing into the road below, digging up a trench from the impact.

Grunting, Wizard shook his head before his vision returned, seeing the Mermaid Phantom raising her trident to try and stab him. The ring-user acted fast, using his ring once again.

"_**LIQUID, PLEASE!**_"

Once again, Wizard melted into a puddle of water which surged away from the Mermaid Phantom. She stabbed into the dirt while Wizard retreated, reforming into his solid body once again. Still, he was bereft of his weapon from the impact. When one had magic like his that wasn't a problem.. Swapping out his rings, he activated the new one.

"_**CONNECT, PLEASE!**_"

A magic circle appeared, allowing Wizard to retrieve his WizarSwordGun from where he had dropped it at the pool. Cutting the air with it, he pointed it at the Phantom, "Shall we continue?"

"Grrr!" the Mermaid snarled in anger. As she prepared to fight again, a shuffling noise caught her attention. Turning, she was treated to the sight of Akira trembling like a leaf in the middle of the street, her swimsuit-clad body wet once again from Yamamoto's water splashing her.

"Well, this is a surprise," the Mermaid Phantom snickered. Rearing back her trident, she turned away from Wizard to throw the weapon, "Time to make a fish fillet!" One heave, and the weapon was thrown, aimed to pierce Yamamoto and then Akira herself.

"No!" Wizard cried, noticing Akira too late. Still, he had enough time to use a ring on his hand.

"_**CONNECT, PLEASE!**_"

Another magic circle appeared beside Wizard, but another appeared beside Akira. Moving fast, Wizard stuck the top portion of his body through the portal, emerging on Akira's side with his back facing the Phantom. Literally a split second later, the trident struck Wizard's back, making him cry out in pain and stumble back through the portal.

"Okay, finishing Wizard first it is then," the Mermaid Phantom laughed, amused by her good fortune.

Another splash of water returned her trident to her hand before she began to approach the downed Wizard once again. This time he wasn't wearing his Liquid Ring and he was in too much pain to try and swap out for a new ring to help him.

Akira watched in fear at what was happening. She recognized the jeweled man. It was easy to recognize the man who rescued her the last time she had been attacked by the monster. Still, she was rooted on the spot in fear and terror at seeing him being on his last leg in a fight. With some effort, she moved her leg to try and run when she felt her toe touch something. Looking down, she saw one of the rings that the man had been using during the fight to cast his...magic.

Kneeling down, she picked up the ring. It was an orange gem in a metal casing with the image of a dragon growing bigger and bigger. Staring at it, she somehow felt an impulse pass through her, an insane idea that under normal circumstances she would never try to do. She was the level-headed one of her friends! She was the calm one! She was the one who made sure things didn't get out of hand!

'_Too late for that,_' she reminded herself. Setting Yamamoto's tank aside, she looked to the downed man and made her decision. Standing up, she ran for the jewel man, running past the Phantom who was rather shocked at the sighed, allowing Akira to reach his side and kneel down next to him.

She didn't exactly know what she was doing but all she knew was this masked man had saved her and she owed him. Copying his earlier action, she hit the switches to make the hand change positions and begin to shine.

"_**RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO! RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO! RUPATCHI MAJIKKU TATCHI GO!**_" the belt sang out.

"Wh-what?" the man grunted out.

Unsure if what she was doing was a good idea, Akira slipped the ring onto her finger before she passed her hand over his belt to scan the ring.

"_**BIG, PLEASE!**_"

When the magic seal appeared, she drove her hand forward. Much to her surprise, the arm exiting out the other side was gigantic. The Mermaid Phantom was too stunned to dodge as she was slapped away. She screamed in pain as she sailed across the street and smashed into the side of a building, causing an impact crater in the shape of her body.

Akira gaped recalling her had from the circle, unable to help but run her fingers over it feeling to see if anything was off. "It...it...it was big...but now...it isn't..." she couldn't help but babble as she examined her bare arm.

"It does that," Wizard grunted, pulling himself up to his feet. "Thank you for the help, but now it's time for this show to end." With wobbly feet, he grabbed the thumb of the Hand Author on his weapon and opened the clenched hand.

"_**C'MON AND SLASH! SHAKE HANDS!**_"

He then swiped his sapphire ring over the hand.

"_**WATER, SLASH STRIKE! SUI SUI SUI! SUI SUI SUI!**__"_

"HYAH!" Wizard and swung, unleashing an energized blast of watery magic. The paralyzed Mermaid Phantom was hit and she screamed as she exploded with a blue version Wizard's magic seal floating over her remains.

"Haaah," Wizard groaned, slumping over, raising his hand to his shoulder to try and massage some of the pain out of the shoulder and his back. Despite the trident not piercing the armour, it still hurt as if it had run him through.

"Are you okay? I can take you to the infirmary. My friend Ako volunteers there," said Akira, seeing the pain the man was in. Ako should still have been working there and she knew how to keep a secret.

"It's fine," Wizard waved off the offer. "Some rest and a doughnut or two and I'll be fine. More importantly, are you okay?"

"I'm fine and so is Yamamoto thanks to you," she told him gratefully. "Oh, before I forget." She slipped the Big Ring off of her finger and handed it back to her rescuer. He took it back with a grateful nod.

"That's good," he said as he reset his belt and passed his right hand over it.

"_**CONNECT, PLEASE!**_"

He reached into the magic seal and pulled out his Machine Winger. He mounted the machine and brought it to life with a loud roar. He then took off down the streets, leaving Akira alone with her somewhat traumatized pet fish. She sighed, feeling relief that the terror was now over.

Walking back to Yamamoto, she kneeled down to smile at her pet, "Let's say I get dressed so we can go home?"

the arowana made bubbles in agreement.

* * *

**Phantom Bar**

Medusa suddenly perked up and began to frown. The magical signature of Mermaid which she had been following since she sent the Phantom on her mission had just disappeared.

"Looks like the Wiz-kid's managed to pull it off again," Phoenix snickered. He could have cared more for the loss, but it wasn't a Phantom of his choice that ended up losing. "And you say the guys I pick aren't up to snuff."

"Silence!" Medusa frowned, her Phantom features flickering over her normal ones. "Obviously I overestimated Mermaid's abilities if she failed like this."

"Yeah, she didn't even get the chick close to despair," Phoenix shrugged, leaning back on the bench seat. "She whined too much anyway."

Medusa frowned before she downed her drink in one gulp. Her temper boiled at not only her plan with Mermaid being halted, but also the fact that Phoenix had the gall to mock her for it. Wiseman was probably watching and saw the failure for himself. he would not be pleased at the performance and the failure to bring a new Phantom into the world.

How could so much go so wrong at once?

* * *

**Classroom 2-A**

The next day, Akira came to class with the biggest story to tell since Takamichi's transfer with Negi being his replacement. She went straight up to Yuna, Ako and Makie and regaled them of the events of the previous night and the details of it.

"Get out of here!" Yuna gasped. "You mean your sempai was the Phantom in disguise?"

"She changed right in front of me," Akira shivered. "If Negi-sensei and the jewel man hadn't distracted and beaten her then me and Yamamoto would have been killed."

"So...do you think there's more of them?" asked Ako with a shiver, looking around the classroom as if one of her classmates could suddenly transform into a monster.

"Nah...we would have heard about more of them...right?" Yuna tried to say confidently, but the worry was deep in her voice.

"Fuhuhuhuhuhu!"

The girls cried in fright as the shadowed form of Haruna Saotome seemed to just emerge from the shadows nearby, her glasses glinting ominously in the light, "What's this? Is there a some hot gossip that I need to be made privy too? Phantoms? A jewel man? Do tell!"

"Indeed," One Kazumi Asakura agreed, emerging from another shadow with a dangerous gleam in her eyes and a notepad and pencil prepared to be used. "Care to have an interview so we can make a story about the strange events happening on campus recently?"

Suddenly, the four sporty girls felt like they may have been safer in the hands of the Phantom.

At the front of the classroom, Negi was in no shape to try and stop the conversation. He was busy cringing in pain after Fuka Narutaki slapped his shoulder in greeting, his wounded one. Now both twins were poking at his shoulder wondering what their new favourite teacher had done to make funny noises like the ones he had. Fortunately, Kaede was already on her way to end the pain.

Not a moment too soon.

"Another day, another bruise," Asuna sighed, watching the hijinks.

**To Be Continued...**

A/N: Okay, we see the end of the Mermaid Phantom and Medusa's plot. Still, now Negi's risked his identity and rumors of the Phantoms and Wizard and beginning to spread. Is 2-A going to discern the identity of their new protector? Will the magic teachers hunt Negi down, blaming him for the Phantoms? Will he ever finish the ring he is working on with that raw Magic Stone? So many questions, so little time...


	6. Phantom Love

**I do not own Negima or Kamen Rider Wizard. Those belong to their respective creators and not me. I am not writing this for profit and am instead writing it for fun. I hope you all enjoy my efforts this far and continue to enjoy my works.**

**Mahour Ridaa Negima!**

**By Ten-Faced Paladin**

**Chapter 6: Phantom Love**

It was the newest gossip on Mahora's grounds. Whispers of the students spoke of monsters that were lurking around the campus, pretending to be humans when in fact they were hunting down targets to drown them in despair. When everything seemed to be turning against you, when hope feels like it is dwindling, there was a protector that would give you hope. He was the gemstone wizard who would protect you from the despair monsters and give you new hope. All of the girls in Mahora were eager to gossip about the gemstone wizard since several of the students swore they had seen him before. Akira Okochi became quite the popular girl by those interested in hearing about her ordeal with the despair monster and gemstone wizard. Most notably among them were the enthusiasts of the supernatural and magic.

While the students ate the gossip up, considering it the newest fad, the faculty on the other hand were less than pleased about it. More specifically, the magicals on staff were the ones who were displeased with the rumours of a magus running around fighting monsters in full view of mundanes.

The magical faculty and their student assistants were of a split camp. Some, such as Gandolfini were adamant in doing everything they could in crushing the rumours. Stories about Phantoms were trash in his mind but they would no doubt send some of the magical students into a panic. He also insisted that they hunt down the wizard and force him to explain just what he was doing at Mahora and disregarding the secrecy of magic. The other half of the magical faculty, Takahata being among them, decided that the students were just going to gossip about the events and consider it a fun story. The occult clubs may make a few token attempts at finding out more but the students were just going to consider it a story and nothing more. The Phantoms, or Summons depending on who you asked, could be diverted away from people and any mundane who saw them could have their memories erased. The situation hardly called for the hard knocks approach that Gandolfini was calling for. Fortunately, the headmaster agreed.

The wizard was protecting the campus and unless there was a sign otherwise, then he would be treated as a neutral third party until they could discern the situation. The bigger concern was on the monsters who seemed to be trying to hunt down their targets be they magical or mundane. They were the more immediate threat and the wizard could be dealt with later.

* * *

**Mahora Crafts Clubroom**

Negi was hard at work with the Red Magic Stone once again. At the moment, he was grinding down on the item to make it small enough for it to fit inside the pre-prepared rings which Negi had packed with his other supplies. As he got the Magic Stone smaller though, he had to use his magical senses to hit the right spots so to prevent a chain reaction of cracks which would dig into the core and make the rock explode. Negi's teacher in the ring-crafting art often said that making the rings required the maker to listen to how the Magic Stone wished to be crafted, not how the maker wanted it to be crafted.

"Okay, just keep your hands steady," Negi reminded himself, turning the Magic Stone over so he could begin filing down another side of it. The rock was now roughly the size of a softball with ambient light coming from the centre. "Just a little bit more and you can begin sizing it for a ring."

Trying to tune his magical senses, Negi stared at the rock for a moment to try and sense where he could make his next cut. It wasn't as simple as looking at the Magic Stone and seeing where it was thicker and thus safer to grind down. Negi had to feel how the magic was pulsing away from the core so he could grind down where the pulses weren't going and keep the magic inside. Spotting one such spot, he began tapping at the spot with a chisel to get the majority of the portion off so he could grind it down and smooth it out.

*Tap...Tap...Tap...Tap...*

KRACK!

"ACK!" Negi screamed, watching as a crack suddenly split the Magic Stone straight down the middle. Red sparks flew from the crack which circled around the entire stone. Negi's face paled as he foresaw a massive fiery explosion happening in his face. He'd been told stories of elemental Magic Stones exploding like bombs and destroying entire buildings or more depending on their size. Negi could only hope that he didn't destroy all of Mahora Academy with his stupidity. '_Goodbye Big Sister...Anya..._'

…

…

…

Negi blinked, looking back down at the Magic Stone which he was sure that was supposed to explode. The crack was going straight through the rock and it was going straight through the core of the Magic stone.

"I'm not dead?" he wondered.

Eyeing the Magic Stone like it was a bomb, he timidly reached for the mineral and poked it with his chisel. Perhaps a stupid thing to do, but when one panics they generally don't make good decisions in the first place anyway. The Magic Stone refrained from exploding, making Negi tap it a few more times for good measure.

*Crick...Crack...POP!*

Another flurry of red sparks fell fro the rock before it split right in half, dropping a few shards in the process. Negi blinked at the stone in sheer shock before he tried using his senses to see if he had ruined the Magic Stone or not. To his further shock, he discovered that the magic core of the stone wasn't unusually big like he had thought when he first received it, but in fact had _two_ magic cores inside of it!

"Two cores?" he blinked in shock. Logically he figured it could happen. After all, there were chickens that laid eggs with two yolks in in. Likely when a lot of magic was crystallized, if there was enough in a confined space it could make two cores inside of a single magic stone. Still, it made Negi wonder that if perhaps with two cores in one Magic Stone, he would be able to make two Wizard Rings that would be paired with one another.

"Way to test me, White Wizard," Negi sighed, wiping sweat from his brow. Looking up at the clock, he saw that his work day was due to begin soon. Scooping up the shards into a tupperware container, the two stones into a velvet box, and bagging his tools, Negi retrieved his jacket and headed for the door.

The Wizard Rings could wait for a little while longer at least.

* * *

**Class 2-A**

The girls of 2-A were all filing into their classroom and chatting amongst each other before the first bell of the day would ring and send them to their desks. They chatted about club activities or things going on in their personal lives. The most popular subject thought was the talk about Phantoms and the gemstone wizard who fought them. The sports girls were of course local celebrities since they actually saw him in action and everyone wanted to hear the story over and over again. Among them this time was Haruna Saotome who was busy with a sketchpad while she got a description.

"Okay, black suit, blue gems on his chest, and and blue diamond on his face with metal outlining a pair of eyes, right?" Haruna grinned as she worked like a woman possessed.

"Yes. That's right," Akira nodded, feeling a little drained by having to tell the story so many times to people who heard it about five times now.

"Okay, and that's all the detail I need!" Haruna cackled, finishing what she was doing with her sketchpad. Flipping it over, she showed what she was working on. "What do you think? Pretty accurate, right?"

Akira and all of the girls around her blinked in shock. Staring back at them was a pencil drawing of a a in a skintight black outfit which left little of his muscles to the imagination. His chest was covered in gems that emulated more oversized muscle and his face had a large gem on it which had a dramatic sparkle on it. His muscles were just much too big for their own good and his suit looked like it was about two sizes too small for him.

"Haruna...you've got to stop letting your hormones draw for you," Yue muttered dispassionately.

"Oh come on!" Haruna huffed at her friend's criticism. "If a guy is going to run around in a weird outfit and fight bad guys then he's got to be packing something, right?"

"He kinda looks too beefy, like those superheroes in American comics," Yuna sweatdropped. "I'm all for a little beefcake but that's just going overboard."

"Hmph!" the manga-ka sniffed. "You have no taste in the male form!"

The bell soon rang, beginning the day. Negi entered soon after and called on their attention, "Everyone, please settle down. We're about to start class."

"Hai, Negi-sensei!"

* * *

After the class, as Negi was leaving the classroom and heading out into the hallway, both Mana and Asuna followed him. They noticed he had dark rings under his eyes, like he hadn't had much sleep lately. It hadn't affected his teaching, but it made both girls concerned for his health considering what he got up to in his spare time.

"Hey, Negi," said Asuna.

"Oh, Asuna-san. Shouldn't you wait in class for your next teacher?" he asked.

"What have you been doing? You look tired," she said.

"Nothing out of the ordinary," Negi shook his head, stifling a yawn.

"And what would count as ordinary for you, Sensei?" asked Mana sternly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Your duties as our teacher and then your duties as Wizard cannot be helping you. The injuries you took during the last one were obvious."

Asuna glanced over at Mana, but she had to agree with the somewhat cold girl. Seeing that Mana had an Engage Wizard Ring on her hand, she guessed that Mana knew something about what was going on. The fact she knew Negi was Wizard was something of a shock but she got over it. According to Negi though, he didn't have much of a choice but to reveal himself since the Cherub Phantom took her hostage or something. The dusky-skinned girl's opinion on the situation was still unknown to Asuna. Still, having some kind of backup against all the weirdness in her life was a plus in her mind.

"I've just been busy with a personal project," Negi sighed. "Once it's done I'll be able to catch up on my sleep."

"Project?" Asuna frowned. "Negi are you _still_ working on that hunk of Red Magic Stone that the White Wizard sent you in the mail?"

"Wait," Mana perked up, frowning. "Negi-sensei has a portion of _raw_ Magic Stone on campus? An elemental type?"

"Well..." Negi began.

"He got it in the mail," Asuna replied, not noticing Negi's sudden discomfort. "He's refining it to turn it into another Wizard Ring to fight Phantoms with."

Mana turned her gaze back to Negi who couldn't help but flinch under her gaze, "Sensei, are you aware how dangerous it is to have something like that here? An Elemental Magic Stone is unstable and if mishandled can cause a disaster. From the sounds of it you have a fire elemental Magic Stone. That's like holding several pounds of C4 with a faulty fuse that could go off at any time."

"I am aware of the risks, Mana-san," Negi replied, frowning. "I'm not handling it ignorantly either. I have been trained in crafting Wizard Rings. I've crafted several of my own Wizard Rings already and am already close to completing this one," He purposefully neglected to mention that he accidentally cracked his stone in half that morning. He didn't need someone like Mana scolding him. She was intimidating enough as it was.

Mana frowned, apparently finding truth in his words but still not liking it, "Still, I insist that we take the stone someplace secure in order to complete it."

"We?" Negi blinked.

"I think Mana means all three of us," said Asuna.

"I know a place where you can finish crafting the ring," said Mana. "I can show it to you during the lunch break. It is secure, has all of the tools and workspace you will need. It also has blast shielding in case something goes wrong and minimal people will get hurt."

"Boy, you're a ball of sunshine," Asuna sweatdropped.

"Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst," Mana shrugged. She then turned back to the classroom, "I'll meet you at the teacher's lounge at lunch break. Please be ready." She then walked back into the classroom to wait for their next teacher.

"Cheery," Asuna frowned.

"You've been her classmate for a while now. Has she always been like that?" asked Negi.

"Pretty much. I think Sakurazaki-san's her friend. They tend to spend a lot of time together," said Asuna.

"Oh," Negi nodded. "Well, I have to get to my next lessons. I'll see you later."

"Right." She then wanted to ask, "Hey, Negi."

"Yes?" he replied.

"I've been wondering, how do you know what kind of rings you will make from those Magic Stones?" she asked. "Do you test them or something?"

"Well, the stones talk to me," he answered.

"They talk to you?" For some reason, the image of a ring with a mouth babbling into Negi's ear with the teen listening in rapture popped into her head.

"Not literally. They just touch my mind through magic, showing me images of what kind of magic they possess and what kind of spell they'll let me cast," Negi replied. "Sometimes it can be a little confusing but others can be easy to guess. I then craft an image to place on the ring to complete it and remind me what it does so I don't have to keep using my senses on them."

"Oh," Asuna blinked. This was beginning to sound just way too weird again. "Okay, see you tonight."

"Until then," Negi nodded, turning to head to his next class.

* * *

**Teacher's Lounge**

The lunch hour eventually came and Negi was busy setting down the last of his paperwork so he could eat something. He hoped that he would be able to eat something before Mana came to show him the supposed secure workspace he could use to complete his Wizard Ring. Putting the papers on the side, he reached for the bento that Konoka had generously made for him. He was looking forward to her cooking every day.

"Negi-sensei," Touko called, walking up to him. "There is a student requesting you to meet with her concerning your lesson today."

"Hm?" Negi blinked. Mana must have arrived already. So much for lunch. "Okay. I'll be right there." Grabbing his pack which had both his lunch and his Magic Stone in it, he headed for the entrance to the Lounge. Sure enough, there was Mana waiting outside looking as calm and cool as ever.

"Are you ready?" she asked. When Negi nodded, she began walking. "Good. Follow me."

Mana led Negi over the the grounds into the town which connected to the school grounds. After moving through the streets, Mana brought Negi to what looked like a wine cellar entrance to a closed restaurant. Negi could only blink at the place.

"This is it?" he asked.

"It's a safehouse I use to store my equipment for jobs," Mana explained. "The actual wine cellar is elsewhere. The owner supplies the space for me since he's also working for my current employer."

"Who's that?" asked Negi.

"You don't have enough to buy that information from me," Mana smirked in amusement. "Speaking of money though, I'm going to need some compensation if you intend to use my facilities."

"EH?!" Negi gaped, almost dropping his bag. "But-but-but-but-!"

"A girl has to make a living," Mana shrugged. "It won't be expensive though. 200, 000 Yen a month."

"200, 000!?" exclaimed Negi in shock. He didn't have that kind of money on him! Heck, he wouldn't have anywhere near that much until the end of the month at the very least and it would be most of his pay in the first place!

"Or..." she amended, "Some fragments of that Magic Stone."

"But...you do know they can be dangerous even without a core," Negi grimaced. He knew Mana could be a bit of a mercenary, but this was over the top to him!

"Of course, but I have contacts who would pay through the nose for the shards for research sake alone," Mana explained. "I may be mercenary, but I don't seek to make profits by creating conflicts. I end them. My contacts would only use them to research them as possible power sources or other industry applications."

"Mn," Negi groaned, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He didn't want to give up the shards if he had to. he knew he would probably have to use them eventually, but to give them up to be sold to someone else felt wrong. At the very least, they wanted to use the shards as a power source instead of weapons or for rituals. "Fine. A few shards in return for using the facilities here."

"Good," Mana smiled slightly. "Pleasure of doing business with you. I expect payment upfront though."

"Making a living indeed," Negi rolled his eyes. Digging into his pack, he produced the tupperware container he used to store his Magic Stone shards. Opening it, he sifted through the shards that were there before producing five decently sized amber shards that he dropped into Mana's waiting hand.

"Amber? I was expecting ruby," Mana couldn't help but comment.

"I've made several of my own rings and I've been saving the shards for a while now since I was never sure where I could sell them to a trustworthy merchant," Negi replied replacing the container in his pack. "So naturally I have a few stocked up. Besides, if your contacts are interested in power sources, amber shards are more stable and useful for their purposes."

"Touche," Mana smirked. "Well, allow me to give you the grand tour and show you where your workspace will be."

"Much obliged," Negi heaved a sigh. Was he destined to deal with girls with extreme personality quirks his entire life?

* * *

**Mahora Academy**

The grounds were alive with activity as the students who decided to remain at the school for the lunch hour played around with friends or did other activities to enjoy their time away from lessons before the afternoon continued on. As always the girls of 2-A were out there among the others. In this particular case, it was Ako, Akira, Yuna, and Makie as they bopped a volleyball around to try and get some exercise in. The lunch hour just wasn't long enough for them to get into any of their normal activities.

"So Negi-sensei's been here for over two weeks now. What do you guys think of him?" asked Makie.

"He's pretty handsome, I'll admit that," Akira commented, bopping the volleyball to her friends.

"Seems to know what he's talking about too," Yuna admitted, but then she grinned. "Gotta admit though that I'd rather look than listen though. A hot guy is always a nice change of pace!"

"You're awful," Ako scolded, volleying the ball. "Our high school entrance exams are next year. Don't you think we should have an experienced teacher or at least one that isn't going to distract us or have us distract him?"

"Boys and hormones," Akira commented, but she smiled. "Not that some of us are any better."

"Yeah, like Haruna!" Makie giggled. "Remember that drawing?"

"It's obvious to see what kind of guy she likes," remarked Yuna. "Hey, Akira. The guy saved you. What do you think of him? Pretty cool, huh?"

Akira blushed, "Well...he was pretty cool..."

"I'd like to be rescued by him again," Makie giggled, accidentally sending the ball away. "Wouldn't it be cool if he was Negi-kun though?"

"Oh come on! Negi-sensei's cute and all but I really don't see him being much of a fighter," argued Yuna.

"Yeah, the gemstone wizard seems like the really tough type," Akira nodded as Makie ran to retrieve the ball. "Bet he'd be a good boyfriend though."

"Oh, I want first dibs!" Makie grinned impishly.

"A man like that wouldn't want a little girl like you!" a new voice spoke. Makie blinked, noticing that she was looking down at a pair of polished black shoes while she was grabbing the ball. Looking up, she saw who the shoes belonged to. In turn, she began to panic, "Y-You?-!"

* * *

He had only a half hour left to enjoy his lunch and he figured he could try to have some fun with it by joining a few of his students. That way he would get something to eat and maybe build a better relationship with his students. Maybe he could actually relax and feel like he was getting the rest he needed and neglected since he started working on that Magic Stone.

Walking back onto Mahora Academy's grounds, he walked out to the quad area to see if Asuna and Konoka were there. Entering the area proper, he didn't see his roommates anywhere. What he did see though was something that made his temper simmer.

In a portion of the quad, he saw Akira, Yuna, Makie, and Ako being cornered by a group of older girls in dark dresses marking them out as high school students from St. Ursula High, the local high school for girls. The leader of the group and her friends apparently cornered the girls and they were bouncing a volleyball off of them mercilessly. Their haughty laughter at the junior high girls' pain only made his temper boil further.

Frowning, Negi began to approach the scene while reminding himself to keep his temper. He was a teacher and he would have to handle it as a teacher.

"What is going on here?" he demanded, approaching the group. The high school girls immediately stopped, letting the ball drop to the ground.

"Negi-sensei!" Yuna and Makie cried in delight.

The high school girls turned to face Negi, none of them saying a word. Negi kept his gaze narrowed and serious. He was quite good at his 'game face' since he took up the fight against Phantoms. "Well? Why were you treating my students in such a way?"

"Woah..." one girl gasped.

"I heard a guy our age was a teacher," another murmured.

"I thought it was a joke, but..." a third commented.

Negi felt a foreboding in his bones for some reason. Was it...

"HE'S SO HOT! KYAAAAAAAA!"

'_Not again!_' Negi whimpered mentally as the high school girls charged at him, open arms and adoring eyes.

* * *

As Negi was learning of the adoring habits of high school girls, a young man was approaching Mahora Junior High, being told that his girlfriend had headed over there with her friends. He was dressed in a high school boys uniform. He was a handsome fellow, looking somewhat foreign with black hair and a fringe which covered his left eye. He had a small grin on his face, for all intents and purposes looking like a young man in love.

He actually had a gift in his hands. He smiled. It had been half a year since they started dating and he wanted to get her something special. He kind of thought it was odd that his girlfriend kept heading over to Mahora Academy to bug the girls there, but he hoped he could tear her away from it so they could go on a date.

Approaching the end of the street, he stopped when a young woman in violet clothes walked into the middle of the street, cutting him off from going further. The young man froze, turning pale at the sight of her.

"Are you having fun playing human, _Cerberus_?" said Medusa with a smile. The young man stepped back from her and then turned to run only for his path to be blocked by Phoenix.

"Nowhere to run, buddy!" grinned Phoenix.

"Medusa, Phoenix," the young man, Cerberus, gulped. "What...what do you want?"

"Half a year ago you were assigned a Gate to drag into despair," Medusa reminded. "However, she has yet to fall into despair. If anything, she seems happier than ever before since meeting you."

Cerberus frowned. He remembered. He wooed the girl and made her fall for him. Then, once the time was right, he would break her heart and force her to fall into despair. However, things had changed. All of the affection she returned, everything they did together, when the time came to drown her in despair, he just couldn't do it.

"And what's this?" Phoenix took the wrapped box from Cerberus' hands. "Is this a _present_!? You're really going far with this plan of yours, dog boy."

"You do remember our mission, don't you?" Medusa asked. "Wiseman wants more Gates to fall into despair and give birth to Phantoms so he can start the Sabbath again."

"What's the point?" Cerberus frowned. "Wizard and his white mentor have been killing us off for years. They _drove_ us from Wales to this place. I'm not stupid or blind you know. We're _losing_ these battles against the ring-users. Wiseman wants more Phantoms? Then he can do it _himself_ if he ever manages to get off his sickly butt and do something for himself instead of whining at you two to do it for him."

Medusa's eyes flashed and an explosive shockwave sent Cerberus sprawling on the ground. He gritted his teeth in pain. A circle of fire then surrounded him and he saw Phoenix looking at him angrily.

"You must've been hit too hard in the head to say something like that," Phoenix remarked.

"Indeed, since you spoke of Wiseman with such disrespect," agreed Medusa. "How unwise."

"I've _seen_ Wiseman, you know," Cerberus growled, wiping his mouth. "He sits in bed all day and gives you two orders all day long. I might be more inclined to obey if he was a more inspiring leader! Hell, I'd follow you two more than I would him since you guys actually _try_ to lead us instead of sitting on your butts all day!"

Medusa wondered what had brought about this rebelliousness and disobedience in Cerberus. She then realized what it was, "So, that Gate has corrupted you. Living among these humans, you decided you wanted to live as one of them."

"That's crazy, Medusa. Why would he wanna be like one of those weak and worthless humans?" scoffed Phoenix, looking at his partner as if she had said something crazier than Cerberus' rant about their leader.

"Because, he's in love," Medusa correctly guessed, "Am I right, Cerberus?"

"D-Don't be ridiculous," Cerberus scoffed. "I just don't want to risk my neck for someone who doesn't give a flying fig if I live or die. We Phantoms give our lives for what? What's in it for us in the end? Nothing."

"A world populated by Phantoms seems like an ideal reward, don't you believe?" Medusa questioned.

"Have you met some of the dinks I have to work with?" Cerberus shot back. "Who wants to live in a world of beings you can't stand? At least I can ignore humans. Phantoms won't let me do that."

"Hey, Medusa? Mind if I kill him?" Phoenix asked. His backtalk was getting annoying.

"That won't be necessary, because I have a job for him," said Medusa. Phoenix cocked an eyebrow and put out his flames. Medusa knelt down in front of Cerberus and pulled out a picture. "Here's your new target. Try not to get attached this time."

Cerberus looked at the picture of the Gate. Immediately he set his teeth and began shaking his head. "I won't do it," Cerberus protested. "I won't."

"Oh, you will," smiled Medusa. "Because, if you don't, your precious little pet Gate will pay the price. We will be getting a new Phantom, one way or the other." She leaned in, "How do you think she'll feel when she learns what you really are? That you're just a Phantom that killed the man who gave you existence then took his face? That everything she thought you were was a lie?"

"You...you wouldn't..."

"Unlike you, we don't let weak human emotions get in the way." She added, "And maybe if you're successful, Wiseman will let you keep that Gate of you're so fond of as a pet once our kind has taken over. A reward for services rendered."

Cerberus clenched his teeth, dark markings of his Phantom form appearing on his face. After a moment, the marks faded as he looked to the ground, "Fine. Just leave her be."

"Then do your job and we won't have a problem," Phoenix snickered, tossing the box to Cerberus. "Good luck with that! Heh heh heh!" Laughing, he and Medusa walked away from the frowning Cerberus.

Growling still, he pulled out a photo from his pocket, the photo Medusa had given him of his target Gate when he was supposed to drive her to despair six months ago, "Eiko-chan...what do I do?" If he was to protect her from Medusa and Phoenix's wrath, then he would have to sacrifice someone else for her sake. It was a small price to pay, wasn't it?

So why did the thought make him sick?

* * *

**Mahora Academy**

There were a lot of things Negi had been anticipating when he came to Japan. Of course, some of them were realistic such as going through culture shock and getting used to some of the customs. Despite what his classmates told him, giant robot battles or girls who can magically change outfits to fight monsters were something he seriously doubted would happen. One such ridiculous thing he had been warned about was the Japanese girl's habit of overreacting to either good looking males or perverts, either by mobbing said male or smashing them through walls with giant hammers. It sounded so weird even to a magic-user that it could never happen.

It was now happening to Negi for a second time, this time by amourous high school girls.

His friends back home would be jealous of his position, crushed in the middle of a mob of squealing girls who admittedly had very nice figures and were more developed than his own students.

"Hey, get off him!" shouted Yuna.

"Yeah, he's our teacher, not yours!" snapped Makie in agreement.

"Oh come on!" one of the girls, a short-haired brunette named Shii grinned. "A hot guy like this? He's a little bit younger but he'll appreciate _experienced_ girls like us!"

"Yes," another long-haired girl with dirty blonde hair smiled, incidentally hugging Negi's arm into her cleavage. "You couldn't handle a man this hot!"

"Why you-!" Yuna frowned. That hussy!

Negi grimaced as he felt several of the older girls pressing against him in inappropriate ways which would make his classmates weep with joy. Still, some of his students looked like they wanted to make things physical with the older girls. He couldn't let that happen! Puckering up, he channeled minor wind magic and unleashed a shrill whistle.

*PHWEEEET!*

The whistle was sharp and loud, making everyone stop what they were doing. It also had the added effect of making the high school girls back off, rubbing their ears to get the ringing noise out of them. It was enough to distract everyone and free Negi so he could actually be a teacher.

"That's enough!" Negi said firmly. He turned to speak to the high school girls. "It isn't against the rules to come to the Junior High during the lunch hour, but if you have come here solely to harass and bully the students then I will ensure that you are evicted from the premises and I will write a letter of complaint to your homeroom teacher. Do you understand?"

"Hai..." the high school girls sighed. Poking fun at the younger girls was all well and good, but if they got busted for it then their teachers would give them hell. They could have tried to use their looks to get out of trouble since the teacher was younger than them, but something told them that wouldn't work. Not that some didn't try with doe eyes or a chest bounce.

Negi either ignored it like a master or didn't notice as he regarded his students, "Now as for you. I know you're angry but resorting to violence will not solve the problem. It will only make things worse. It should only be the absolutely last thing you try in a confrontation."

"Yes, Negi-sensei," the four girls nodded.

"Good," Negi nodded before he looked to the high school girls again. "Now weren't you all just leaving?"

The high school girls shuffled off, mumbling under their breath and throwing dark looks at the junior high girls, both the ones they were teasing and the ones who were just watching. Negi watched them go, wondering why the older girls seemed to have such a chip on their shoulders towards their kohai to produce such looks.

"Thanks, Negi-sensei," said Yuna gratefully.

"Part of the job as a teacher," Negi smiled.

"Professionally handled as well," everyone turned to see who spoke to find Takahata approaching with a cigarette in his mouth and a smile as usual. "Good job Negi-kun."

"Ah, thanks," Negi smiled. "I'm just glad it didn't get worse before I got here."

"Good timing on your part," Takahata nodded. "I'll leave you to the rest of your lunch period though. No doubt you want to finish before heading back to the daily grind."

Negi's stomach growled loudly, "Ah heh heh heh."

* * *

The school day came to an end like all school days did. For the girls of St. Ursula High it was no exception. A trio in question were heading away from the school for the train station. Two were of course Shii and Bibi who were among those who tried to steal away Negi from the junior high girls. Their common friend and leader figure was a black-haired teenage girl whose hair reached down her back and had a competitive streak a mile wide. Her name was Eiko, the alpha female of her clique.

"Can't believe those little brats get to have the hot teacher who's actually dateable," Bibi muttered.

"Why can't we have that kind of luck?" asked Shii with a huff.

"We'll get them back," Eiko assured her friends. "Tomorrow we've got a free period for gym. Why don't we just wander on over to their rooftop gym space and practice some of our moves? Not like those kids are going to use it for anything besides little games."

"There's an idea," Shii grinned.

"Sounds good to me," Bibi agreed. "Let's text the others and let them know." And like lightning, a move only modern teenagers could do, all three pulled out their cellphones and began texting their network of friends to let them know of their plans.

As they became absorbed into their phones though, they didn't take notice of a figure hiding out in a nearby alley, watching them go along. The figure eyed Eiko most deeply among the three, looking forlorn at her.

"I'm sorry Eiko," the figure sighed. "But this is for your own good."

The figure tensed before lunging out of the alley. Moving like a mass of darkness, it dashed at the three girls and was on them in a heartbeat. Lunging, the figure reached outut for the girls. In a flash, the figure grabbed the back of Shii's uniform before dashing off into another alley with his quarry.

"AHHHHHHHH!"

"Shii!/Shii-chan!" Eiko and Bibi screamed, watching their friend vanish into the shadows. Above them, they never noticed a small red bird following after the kidnapper.

* * *

**Springfield/Konoe/Kagurazaka Residence**

Negi was up in his living space, reading over some of his papers. After the day he had he felt he just couldn't muster up the strength to work on the Wizard Ring for the night. Instead, he decided to follow Asuna's advice and try to get some rest. He didn't have too much paperwork to do and he could have it done in a few minutes. Then perhaps he could catch up on his reading and relax for a change.

Those thoughts promptly died when the crystal ball on his desk began glowing red.

His mind snapping to alert, Negi pulled the glass sphere over his paperwork so he could take a proper look at it. The red glow told him that the Garuda PlaMonster had discovered something and was now alerting him to it. Channeling a portion of his magic, Negi saw the image of a street with a girl in a high school uniform being dragged away by a Phantom.

"They never quit!" Negi hissed. Getting up, he jumped over the ledge onto the floor before dashing for the door. He shocked Konoka and Asuna who were doing homework in the process, but his mind was riveted on the thought of fighting another Phantom.

"Where are you going Negi-kun?" asked a surprised Konoka.

"An errand I forgot!" Negi called back, already out the door.

"I'll save dinner if you're late!" she called, Negi barely hearing her as he went.

* * *

Asuna shook her head as she saw Negi leave. While she and him did not get along at first she had to admit that she respected the guy. Anyone who had the stones to go out and fight monsters even if they did have kick-ass magic on their side was worth respecting. Still, in recent days she had started to get worried for him. Between his duties as a teacher, crafting that new ring, and fighting Phantoms, Negi was getting run down and it showed in his last battle when he came into class all sore and practically limping. He was burning himself out and he didn't seem to care.

"Let's see where he's going," Asuna murmured to herself. Getting up from her desk, she climbed the ladder up to Negi's living space where she immediately noticed the crystal ball on his desk glowing red. Stepping closer to it, she saw the image of a section of Mahora being revealed and a Phantom dragging a high school girl through the streets at high speeds.

"That's..." Asuna frowned. She knew the spot as a river near St. Ursula. She had taken that path to the place when she and Ayaka wanted to get some payback on Eiko and her gang when they harassed their class now and then. If Negi was going there, then she would to. Someone had to make sure he didn't burn out at the wrong moment and got himself killed.

"Konoka, Negi forgot his wallet!" Asuna made an excuse, leaping off the ledge like Negi did a moment ago. "I'm going after him before he ends up embarrassing himself or something!"

"Okay!" Konoka smiled. "Come back safe."

"Thanks!" Asuna replied, already out the door.

* * *

Shii continued to scream as her kidnapper dragged her along at a pace she couldn't even follow. She had no idea where she was and she was terrified out of her mind. She screamed, thrashed, and kicked up all sorts of hell she could but still the one who took her wasn't reacting.

Finally they came to a stop in the middle of a bridge with lampposts just beginning to turn on as the sun sank low on the horizon. The figure dropped Shii, allowing the teenager to back away with a whimper of fright. turning around to face her kidnapper, she unleashed a scream of absolute terror.

The figure stood tall, dwarfing even the adults on campus. His torso was covered in what looked like black armour with the sides being red flesh. In the centre of the chest was some kind of gold emblem with a red jewel set inside of it. The legs appeared to be canine with three razor sharp toes and similarly armoured. The arms were human, but covered in more of that black armour with three razor sharp claws emerging from the wrists. The shoulders were shaped like doberman heads made of black steel but the eyes were glowing red as if they were alive. Finally, the head looked like an actual doberman's with an armoured helmet fitting perfectly on it. White hair could be seen on the neck, tied into a pair of braids. The mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth and cables looked like they were connecting the other heads to the body.

This was the Cerberus Phantom.

"Please don't resist," the Phantom spoke, slowly advancing on Shii. "Accept your fate and drown in despair of death. I will try to make it quick."

"No...no...no..." Shii whimpered, crab-walking away from the Cerberus Phantom. "I don't want to die..."

"You are going to die today," Cerberus retorted, still advancing. "There's nothing you can do about it. A higher power than either of us decreed it."

"No...no..." Shii whimpered, Cerberus' shadow beginning to fall over her.

"I'm afraid so," Cerberus lamented, raising his arm for a slash.

"_**FLAME, PLEASE! HI! HI! HI, HI, HI!**_"

"What?" Cerberus blinked at the noise, turning before a blast of fire crashed into him, knocking him aside. "GAHH!" He landed heavily on the cobblestone, slapping at the flames that lingered on his body.

Shii shrieked as the flames drew closer to her, but when they suddenly vanished with the sounds of a tire squealing, he dared to look up. She gasped as she saw the black and ruby-clad form of the gemstone wizard everyone was talking about lately. He was mounted on a motorcycle, looking downright heroic as he had just rescued her.

"Run!" he barked, prompting Shii to scramble to her feet and make a break for safety.

"NO!" the Cerberus Phantom bellowed. Rolling onto all fours, it began dashing after Shii. It actually dashed past Wizard, ignoring him completely for his targeted Gate.

"Oh no you don't!" Wizard shouted, gunning his machine to give chase.

The chase went for a short time, but eventually it ended because Shii just didn't have the stamina to escape her pursuer. Turning a corner, she ended up in a plaza before tripping and falling at the base of a fountain. Groaning, she felt her ankle throb something fierce, but fear overtook pain as she watched the Cerberus Phantom approach, standing on two feet again.

"Please stop fighting this," he begged. "I promise it will be quick, but today is the day you die. I'm sorry but that's just the way it is."

"Not today!" Wizard's voice rang out before several enchanted silver bullets crashed into Cerberus' back, causing him extreme pain while he stumbled out of the line of fire.

"Guuh! Gah!" Cerberus groaned, stumbling to see Wizard approaching on his Machine Winger. "Can't you leave us alone for _one_ fucking day?-! Just this once can't you look the other way?"

"I will never look the other way!" Wizard swore, remembering _that _day. "Since that day I've sworn to stop your kind!" He leapt onto his seat. "And make sure nobody else has to die from despair!" He catapulted off his bike and flipped through air, landing a kick against the Phantom's snout.

"Ow!" Cerberus cried out, taking a step back. "Fine! If I can't make you turn away, I'll just beat you down until you can't do anything about it! I won't fail this! I won't let them take her away! RAWR!" He lunged at Wizard, slashing wildly with his claws. He already knew Shii twisted her ankle. She wasn't going anywhere for a while.

Converting his WizarSwordGun into Sword Mode, Wizard prepared to engage the Cerberus Phantom coming at him. Wizard's blade connected with the claws, causing sparks to fly. Wizard then pivoted on his heel and drove his foot into the Phantom's stomach.

Cerberus stumbled away, growling before the heads on his shoulders shifted to point at Wizard. Then in a united motion, all three heads shot streams of shadows from their mouths. The streams struck Wizard knocking him back several feet onto his back with smoke rising from his armour.

Satisfied that Wizard wouldn't be getting back up anytime soon, the Cerberus Phantom continued on his hunt for his target Gate.

Finding Shii and cornering her at the fountain, he said, "I'm sorry. I must throw you into despair. I'll make it quick." As he prepared to strike and threaten her with the fear of death to force her into despair, another girl got in his way.

"Stay away from her!" she shouted and Cerberus froze. A bookbag then collided with his head, forcing the Phantom to turn to see who had attacked him.

He froze.

"Eiko...?" Cerberus uttered. Entering the plaza was indeed Eiko and her friend Bibi, both panting from having run so much. Eiko was missing her bag, indicating who had been the one to throw it at Cerberus to distract him. "Stay out of this, Eiko!"

"How...how do you know my name?" she questioned, confused at the familiarity from the monster.

"I...It doesn't matter!" Cerberus growled, cursing himself for his slip, "Stay out of this or I will kill you." A frightening threat, but something in his voice just sounded hollow when it came to threatening violence against the girl.

"I'm not letting you hurt my friend!" she shouted at him, stomping towards the scene and looking for a fight. The Cerberus Phantom trembled as he clenched his fists, apparently wanting to move but finding his body unwilling.

Wizard, seeing that the Phantom was distracted, slipped on his Kick Strike Ring and reset his Hand Author to scan it.

"_**VERY NICE! KICK STRIKE! FABULOUS!"**_

His signature magic seal appeared in his feet and he spun in a circle, his right foot absorbing the flames. He then performed a forward jumped and landed on his hands before catapulting himself into the air to execute a corkscrew kick with his flaming legs outstretched to land the killing blow.

Cerberus would never see it coming.

However, Wizard would not see what was coming either. A large bird of fire suddenly landed in front of the path of his attack and when the flames dispersed, Wizard felt his foot collided with the flat side of a broad sword.

The weapon was truly a massive blade, the steel a bright crimson like flames. Holding it was an armoured figure covered from head to toe in crimson and gold armour. His gold shoulder pads looked like bird beaks with blue stones embedded in them. His armbands were gold turning crimson with points like feathers near his elbows. His face looked like helmet with a silver mouthplate while the rest was again crimson, protrusions from the sides looking like wings while a fin rose from the top. His eyes were a sky blue, but stared at Wizard with a hawk-like intensity.

"Phoenix!" Wizard gasped, recalling the Phantom from his time in Wales.

"Hey, long time no see, Wiz-kid," said Phoenix. He then swung his sword and sent Wizard tumbling violently along the ground. Shouldering his sword, the Catastrophe, Phoenix turned his attention towards Cerberus, "Hey, Fido! Hurry up and make that girl despair! Or else!"

Wizard was getting back up to his feet when Phoenix advanced on him. Phoenix then struck him across the chest and sent him staggering. Phoenix continued to strike Wizard with a series of slashes before grabbing him by the collar.

"You've been giving our kind a lot of trouble, you shiny headed bastard," Phoenix said to Wizard. "But this time, you ain't gonna do shit!" He tossed Wizard up and swung his sword like a baseball bat. The explosive blow sent Wizard flying and he crashed against the ground in pain.

Wizard took off his Flame Ring and replaced it with the Land Ring before resetting his belt to the 'Henshin' position to scan it.

"_**LAND, PLEASE! DODODO, DODODON! DON, DODODON!**_**"**

A yellow magic circle rose around Wizard, transforming him into his topaz Land Style. Fire never truly overcome earth, a basic lesson of elemental affinities. It was painfully obvious where Phoenix's abilities were based on, technically giving Wizard the elemental advantage. Thus as Phoenix came at him, he was ready.

"_**DEFEND, PLEASE!**_"

A wall of rock rose up between Phoenix and Wizard. However, the wall was no match for Phoenix's sword as he smashed it to pieces with his sword. Shocked, Wizard reset his belt and scanned his ring again.

"_**DEFEND, PLEASE!"**_

Phoenix smashed the wall again. "I can do this all day Wiz-kid!" Dashing at Wizard, he slashed wide with his sword once again. Wizard moved to dodge, scanning his ring again and again.

"_**DEFEND, PLEASE! DEFEND, PLEASE! DEFEND, PLEASE!"**_

Backing away and forming a wall of stone each time, Phoenix would just smash through Wizard's defense without any trouble. The earth element wasn't being as helpful as Wizard had first assumed it would be. Changing tactics, Wizard switched rings to buy himself time.

"_**BIND, PLEASE!"**_

Chains of stone erupted from the ground wrapping around Phoenix and binding him in place. Phoenix grunted at the sudden stop in his momentum but other than slight annoyance he didn't seem to care.

"Seriously? It's been how many years since you got your little trinkets and _this_ is the best you can do?" he snickered. While Wizard was switching the Land Ring for his Water Ring, Phoenix shattered the chains holding him with ease. Wizard was pelted by the pieces of rock which made up the chains. He ignored it for the sake of preparing his next offensive.

"I've learned a few tricks since we last saw each other Phoenix!" Wizard snapped, scanning his ring.

"_**WATER, PLEASE! SUI, SUI, SUI, SUI~!**_"

Watching the blue magic circle change Wizard to Water Style, Phoenix snorted, "You tried that the last time we tangled. You don't have enough water in you to douse my flames! Just give it up Wiz-kid and let us drown the girl in despair and we'll be on our merry way already! You'll live longer that way!"

"And what did I do the last time you said that to me?" Wizard retorted, swapping out his rings.

"Right, you got your ass kicked before I got bored and left," Phoenix laughed. "Want to do a repeat?"

"Hardly," Wizard frowned, setting the Hand Author and activating his ring.

"_**LIQUID, PLEASE!**_"

* * *

While the battle to save Shii's life was being waged, two girls were running down the streets towards the source of the disturbance. Both of them had left from different locations and weren't really working together but somehow ended up travelling along the same route eventually. Naturally, those two were Mana Tatsumiya and Asuna Kagurazaka. Both were using their natural speeds to head to the source of the disturbance. Asuna knew where it was solely because Negi left his crystal ball on and she took a peek on it. Mana on the other hand had been alerted by the headmaster about the incident and after loading up on silver, she headed out to deal with the threat if Negi hadn't already.

"How much heat are you packing anyway?" demanded Asuna, eyeing the magnums and rifle her classmate had strapped to her waist and shoulder. "Are those even legal?-!"

"I have enough," Mana replied coolly. "And it's best you not ask about the legal issues. Your conscience will have less stress on it that way." She glanced at her classmate. "I highly recommend you stay back though. You don't have any sort of skills that will help take on this Phantom."

"Well excuse me for not being some gunslinging sharpshooter!" Asuna snapped. "I'm just going to bail the dork out if he gets in over his head! Besides, I can take on Ghouls just fine! I bashed enough of them before their Phantom got his hands on me!"

"I'm sure," Mana rolled her eyes.

"I did!" Asuna insisted.

The two girls continued their mad dash, running by a young woman with long black hair and dressed in purple clothes. She froze as the two ran past before turning her gaze to their path. Her eyes flashed a deep purple and she frowned as if she had seen something that no one else would be able to see. Fixing her hair, she pondered the incident. Both were Gates, but because of the blessed silver and the Magic Stones in the rings they wore, no Phantom would be capable of being born in them and no Phantom could even touch the rings without risking losing fingers to silver poisoning or worse. Aside from that, there was something...more to the pair that the disguised Gorgon Phantom did not like.

"Those two...are not normal," Medusa frowned. "Phoenix may find this more difficult than he thought."

* * *

**Plaza**

Cerberus was stunned to see anybody take on Phoenix and look like they were holding their own, even for a little while. Wizard had turned himself into water and was constricting himself around Phoenix, causing steam to billow out from his body. Rather than seem like he was being hurt by the water element, he just considered it to be like getting a splotch of mud on their clothes. In other words, it was easy to get off when you notice it.

Personally, Cerberus was hoping that Wizard could destroy Phoenix and maybe give him an excuse to run. Someone who could take down a superior Phantom like Phoenix was somebody that no other Phantom would want to mess with. It would be the perfect reason for him to not go after Gates for a while if Wizard was capable of taking on and taking down the likes of Phoenix and Medusa.

"Hurry Shii! While he's distracted!" his canine hearing picked up. Glancing over his shoulder he saw Eiko and Bibi helping Shii limp away from the battle scene. Cerberus kept his back turned and pretended to be entranced by the battle, giving the trio a chance to get some distance so even his canine senses wouldn't be able to track them down easily.

'_I'll give them a minute or two for a head start before making a token attempt at finding them,_' Cerberus thought traitorously to himself. '_Mahora isn't like Wales. There is a whole lot more confusing scents running around. It's impossible to really track something down without it being close these days._'

He actually had the gall to hum a tune to himself as he watched Pheonix bash away Wizard, forcing the human to reform into a solid body. Phoenix didn't notice the missing target either as he began to approach Wizard with Catastrophe ready for another explosive strike. Wizard reacted fast, shifting his weapon into Gun Mode before firing several rounds at Phoenix, forcing the Phantom to block with his massive sword.

With the fight still going on, Cerberus checked and saw that the three high school girls had vanished down one of the side streets, "Oh look. They got away. I'd best get searching then." Turning, Cerberus took a lazy stride down one of the side streets, picking the one that smelled the least like the Gate he had been following.

Hey it wasn't his fault the Wizard got involved and Phoenix's showing off distracted him.

**To Be Continued...**

**A/N:** And now we see that all is not as it seems with the Phantoms. We also see that Wizard is starting to gain attention from all levels of Mahora's staff and students, magical and mundane alike. Things are sticky now with a reluctant Phantom and Phoenix taking a personal hand in things. Can Negi keep up and hope to survive? What about the Gates?


	7. Human Heart Phantom Heart

I do not own Kamen Rider Wizard or Negima! They belong to their respective creators and not me. I am only writing this for fun and not for any sort of profit. If you don't like the story then just don't read it. For everyone else who is enjoying the story then please continue on and read the next installment. Enjoy!

**Mahou Ridaa Negima!**

**By Ten-Faced Paladin**

**Chapter 7: Human Heart Phantom Heart**

**Plaza**

*BOOM!*

"GAH!" Wizard cried out as another explosive slash of Phoenix's Catastrophe sent him stumbling backwards in a heap. His body had smoke lifting from portions of it, but it could have been worse if he wasn't in his Water Style form which had a natural resistance to fire. Unfortunately, Phoenix's fire was more powerful than the average Phantom and could overpower that resistance.

"Yeah, you're sure showing me a thing or two," Phoenix laughed sarcastically, walking towards Wizard with his sword hefted over his shoulder.

"Urg..." Wizard grunted, stumbling to his feet.

Phoenix just continued to laugh before he glanced at his surroundings, "Huh, looks like Fido's made tracks. He'd better have gone after the Gate if he knows what's good for him and his little pet." Shrugging, he turned to address Wizard again, "Not that it matters to you, seeing as how you're going to be dead in a minute!" Phoenix poured his Mana into Catastrophe and ignited the blade, making it look like a compressed inferno. "So long you shiny-headed bastard! Now, GO TO HELL!"

**BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!**

"Grah!" Phantom grunted as he was pushed back by gunshots. Normally, bullets wouldn't harm a Phantom. They weren't even effective against their Ghoul minions. However, if the ammunition was made of silver, that was another matter entirely. "Dammit! Who did that!?" raged Phoenix. That was when a cylindrical canister rolled to his feet. "Huh?" He had only a moment to blink before recognizing what it was.

**FLASH! BANG!**

"GRAH!"A blinding flash of light assaulted Phantom's eyes as a loud bang deafened him. He screamed from the stinging in his eyes as he backed away, dropping his sword. Wizard was disoriented as well but he hadn't been as close as Phoenix had been to take the brunt of the stun grenade. He felt himself being lifted up to his feet and dragged away from the Phantom who was shouting out in anger and outrage. It would take some time before Phoenix recovered, but by then Wizard would be long gone.

Naru and Mana were dragging Wizard away to someplace where they could hide him so Negi could dismiss his armor. In his suit, he stuck out like a sore thumb.

"OK, how do we get his suit off?" Asuna asked.

"Aren't you eager?" Mana teased. Asuna flushed at the implication.

"You know what I mean! We need to make sure he doesn't have any injuries or anything!" shot back Asuna. Fortunately, she didn't have to figure it out as the Wizard suit vanished on its own. "Huh?"

"It must've taken too much damage," Mana suggested. "Now, we need to get him someplace to treat his wounds. There's a safe house not far from here. We can take him there fore medical treatment."

"Right," Naru nodded.

* * *

"_Springfield...Negi Springfield..."_

"_Huh?" Negi blinked as he found himself in a dark void. "Where am I?" No verbal answer came, but as if emerging from a pool of darkness in the void came Dragon, his Inner Phantom. "Dragon?"_

"_You're foolish, Negi Springfield," scolded Dragon. "Your death would've meant my own."_

"_So, what can I do?"_

"_Finish the ring and..."_

* * *

Negi's eyes opened and he groaned as he stared up at the white ceiling. He sat up and found his torso wrapped in bandages. His hair entered the corner of his eyes, telling him that it was untied and free. His glasses were likewise gone, leaving fine detail blurred out.

Groaning, Negi rubbed his head. Had the Wizardragon really spoken to him? Negi's inner Phantom rarely tried to contact him. Despite the bond that the two shared they both didn't like each other all that much. It was Wizardragon's nature as a Phantom. He wanted out while Negi was keeping him sealed within him to prevent the entity from going free.

Looking around, he saw that he was in someone's room but with no pictures showing who it might belong to. Pulling himself from the bed, Negi withheld the urge to wince when some pain jabbed through his torso. The bandages were well done and whatever was wounded had received proper medical attention.

"Glad you're awake."

Negi looked to the door to the room and saw Asuna and Mana entering, the mercenary holding a basket of medical supplies. Asuna was slumping in relief while Mana looked mostly impassive, but some relief was etched onto her features as well.

"Mana-san, Asuna-san," Negi wearily nodded.

"About time you woke up!" Asuna frowned. "Do you know how worried sick we were after we saw that red Phantom beating the crap out of you!"

"Considering how I saw you fight before, it makes me think that the red Phantom was significantly more powerful than the average one," Mana commented, approaching Negi with her supplies. "Now sit down and explain that one. I prefer to have information on any and all hostiles that I may end up fighting." Negi opened his mouth to argue, but the tanned teenager yanked him to sit on the bed while she began checking his bandages. "Consider it payment for services rendered in saving you and treating you."

"You're asking for payment at a time like this?" Asuna gaped.

"I'm willing to sell my time and effort for a lot of different things," Mana shrugged, unrolling a bandage on Negi's arm to check the wound. "Now about this red Phantom?"

"Fine. Considering we'll likely be seeing more of him it would be a good idea to let you know," Negi sighed. "His name used to be Yugo Fujita. He just learned about magic and had come to my village to consider training when he was discovered to be naturally powerful. Phoenix is different from other Phantoms since he's an Executive Phantom."

"Executive Phantom?" asked Asuna.

"I call the Phantoms who order the others around that to differentiate them," Negi replied. "He's one of the Phantoms in charge of assigning Gates to the lower-ranked Phantoms. We've crossed paths before and it usually never turned out well for me. The only reason I survived each time is because he got bored and decided to leave. Now it seems he's tired of dealing with me."

"I see. Considering how a phoenix is considered one of the strongest magical beasts to exist, I assume this reflects in this Phantom's abilities?" asked Mana, beginning work on Negi's chest bandages.

"His control over fire is some of the most powerful I've seen and he's also incredibly strong for a Phantom," Negi confirmed. "Even by using my Water Style I haven't been able to defeat him. His fire is just too hot and it can even overcome the fire resistance I have in that state."

"Jeez, you weren't kidding when you said he was tough," Asuna winced. "And he's the one going after the Gate this time?"

"No," Negi shook his head. "A Cerberus Phantom is responsible for that. Phoenix likely just got sick of waiting around and decided to deal with me. The Gate got away, but Cerberus did too and with how Phoenix was brutalizing me I'm not in any shape to really go after him."

"We have some fierce opposition this time," Mana frowned. "Do we know who the Gate is?"

"I saw her," Negi nodded. "She's a student from St. Ursula's. She's one of the friends of the leader who came to harass the others today during the lunch period."

"You mean we have to go save one of Eiko's friends?" Asuna groaned. "Do we really have to? That pack of harpies has been nothing but trouble ever since we first met."

"Asuna..." Negi frowned.

"I know, I know," Asuna sighed.

"Well, you're in no shape to go hunting for Phantoms right now," Mana commented, finishing redressing the bandages. "As it is you run the risk of the other students & teachers seeing something has happened to you. I doubt that many of the teachers who are in the know about magic would be happy to know that you are the gemstone wizard that everyone is talking about."

"True," Negi sighed, rubbing his shoulder. "Because of people's disbelief in the Phantoms, I'm just as likely to be targeted as they are because of how our fights become such spectacles."

"Secrecy is all well and good, but sometimes that has to go to the wayside," Mana nodded, collecting her supplies. "The Phantoms hardly give us the chance for that much."

"So what now?" asked Asuna.

"As much as I hate to say it," Negi sighed standing up. "We're going to have to wait for the Phantoms to resurface."

"Great," Asuna grumbled but sighed. "Okay. Get your shirt on then. If Konoka sees that you like this then she's going to go into fits."

"I was able to hide my injuries from almost everyone back home," Negi nodded, heading to where his shirt and jacket were slung over a chair. "I'm no novice at this."

"I'll see you two in class tomorrow then," Mana nodded. "I have patrols to finish up. If I see any Phantom activity I'll let you know."

"I appreciate that Mana-san," Negi nodded tiredly, buttoning up his shirt after throwing it on.

"Yeah, now come on tough guy," Asuna grabbed Negi by his arm and began dragging him from the room.

* * *

**Mahora Grounds**

Cerberus was back in his human form, walking through the streets of Mahora with a sullen look on his face. As he hoped, he ended up losing Eiko, Bibi, and Shii. Partially it was because of Phoenix throwing his flames everywhere had burned the scent out of the air, but also because Cerberus himself purposefully went the wrong way pretending he didn't have any trace of the girls.

"You didn't make the girl into a Phantom," came a female voice, revealing Medusa come from the shadows. "Do I have to remind you of your orders?"

"No," Cerberus frowned. "But it's a little difficult to complete the orders when Phoenix-sama is lousing things up be making firestorms and giving the Gate an opening to escape."

Medusa frowned at the excuse, but she knew from experience that Phoenix tended to make a stable plan go haywire when given half a chance thanks to his impatience and impulsive behavior. It was especially true when a chance for him to fight Wizard would turn up. He was just too eager for a rematch and would use any excuse to get it, growing especially excited whenever the boy gained a new spell or just got stronger.

Phoenix was particularly enraged this time after he'd failed to kill the Wizard. He'd been distracted by human weapons and after recovering from the effects of the stun grenade, he wanted to burn Mahora to the ground, be damned the Gates that resided there.

"That's true," she admitted, "But remember what the price of failure is, Cerberus."

Cerberus didn't know how or why but he'd always been a little different from most Phantoms ever since the night of the Sabbath which had given birth to him. He knew he was different since he was capable of something no other Phantom had done before, namely fall in love with a human. Had he inherited his Gate's human heart? He didn't know for sure, but the love he had for Eiko was not something he was willing to throw away for anything.

"I remember," Cerberus sighed. "Just keep Phoenix from goofing things up and I'll get it done."

"I will remember that," Medusa nodded. "Now, why don't you think up a new plan to put your target into despair? I'm sure since she's your pet's friend, you have many opportunities to do so. I suggest you don't waste those opportunities."

"You underestimate the social life of teenage girls," Cerberus muttered. "If you bothered to recall your human form's life, you'd be better able to plan our attacks on Gates." He immediately snapped his mouth shut at the comment. He meant it as an insult, not as giving her advice!

"I see..." Medusa smiled. That was an idea to consider. Perhaps indulging in the human society would help the Phantoms better identify and get close to Gates, Medusa herself included. It served some of the lower operatives well sometimes. After all, she would be able to get to know them, learn of their hopes and dreams, then destroy those hopes and dreams to bring forth new Phantoms. "That sounds like a good idea."

Cerberus hated himself so badly at that moment in time. That was when his phone rang. He took it out of his pocket and read the text. It was from Eiko. He read the message and grimaced. She was terrified and needed him right now.

"It looks like your little pet needs you," Medusa smirked as she read over his shoulder. "Go to her if you must, but remember your responsibilities to Wiseman."

"..." Cerberus scowled.

* * *

**Springfield/Kagurazaka/Konoe Residence**

Konoka was none the wiser when Asuna and Negi returned. Although, she did make a joke that the two might've gone out on a date or something. Negi may have been more embarrassed by the implication, but he was just too tired. So after making sure no one saw his bandages under his clothes, Negi simply wanted to go bed.

"I've already made dinner. You should eat first, then take a bath," Konoka said, watching Negi try to go to bed. "You can go to bed after that."

"Oh, right," Negi yawned, halfway up to his small loft. Climbing back down, he moved to the kotatsu to get something to eat.

"You've been tired a lot Negi-kun," Konoka frowned. "You've been working too hard you now. You come home tired all the time and you have all sorts of paperwork and errands to run. You have to take care of yourself too, you know."

"I know, I know," Negi yawned, gathering a plate of food. It was an argument Nekane used on Negi whenever he came back injured or exhausted. Her other favourite argument was trying to convince Negi to give up being Wizard and stop fighting Phantoms. Needless to say, she didn't really succeed in either case.

"Muu! You're not listening!" Konoka huffed.

"Ah, let him go," Asuna munched on her own food. "He'll sort himself out."

"Mnn!" Konoka pouted. She liked taking care of people and making them feel good even if it was as something as little as cooking a meal. She just didn't like the look of her new friend Negi being all tired and worn out every night. Being a teacher was a big job already and who knew what else Negi was taking onto his workload with all the errands he had to run.

"I'll be fine Konoka-san," Negi smiled reassuringly. "I've been putting a lot of hours into a personal project. I just need food and rest, then I'll be fine."

"You better be Negi-kun," Konoka pouted. "Grandpa asked me to make sure you got along fine in Japan and I'd feel bad if I didn't do that."

"I'll be fine," Negi insisted. Konoka really was sounding much more like Nekane than he was comfortable admitting to. "I just need a little more time for my project and it should be finished after that."

"Okay, but no more late nights and early mornings!" Konoka pointed at Negi with a spatula. "I'll have Asuna tie you down so you can sleep in if I have to!"

"Won't that be fun," Asuna sweatdropped.

"Uh...yes ma'am," Negi grimaced. He then dug into his meal again, not wanting to incur Konoka's well-intentioned wrath.

* * *

**Mahora Grounds - Mana's Workshop**

Another day of school began and once again Negi was bright and early, working in Mana's special workshop on the last remaining portions of the two Magic Stones. Both were chiseled down to the size of small eggs, waiting to be mounted on rings to use as weapons against the Phantoms. In low light, it would have been possible to see the stones glowing quite clearly. Against Konoka's orders, he had gone early to the workshop to finish off the new rings, or at least get extremely close. With the Magic Stone finally down at the right size, Negi brought out two empty Wizard Ring casings from his pack and set to work on mounting the stones.

"Okay, just a little more," he smiled, using some of his more delicate tools to slip the stones into place. With a snap, the stones were mounted and ready to be marks. Setting the tools aside, Negi held the rings in his hands and began to concentrate, letting his magic wrap around the rings.

"_Ras Tel Mas Scir Magister...Ras Tel Mas Scir Magister... Ras Tel Mas Scir Magister..._" Negi chanted the activation words to his normal magic. The magic poured down his arms and wrapped around the rings, bringing a connection between Negi himself and the rings so he could see what they might be capable of.

The magic of the ring in his right hand reacted first. Negi's vision lit up with an image of the Wizardragon. Rather than the entire form of the dragon, he kept getting flashes of its head, wings, talons, and tail.

'_What was that?_' Negi questioned in his mind. Was Wizardragon trying to make contact with him? While the Phantom was the source for his magic, he didn't trust the creature one bit.

The magic of the ring in his left hand then touched him, forming an image of Wizard's face, but had ornamental silver horns and a round ruby in the centre of his forehead, surrounded by gold. the image then shifted to the Dragon staring at Negi with narrowed eyes before vanishing altogether.

"A new transformation?" Negi gasped. A new transformation meant new abilities that the Phantoms had never seen before. It also might give him the edge he needed against the more powerful Phantoms like Phoenix. "Well, I better finish these new rings to see it become a reality."

Negi then set to work placing the last adornments on the rings. The new Wizard Ring which had something to do with the Dragon was adorned with metal covering, depicting a dragon blowing a stream of fire. The transformation Wizard Ring was given the familiar removable eyepieces of Wizard, but also the silver horns and embedded jewel to make it look like the new form's face.

"Finally, finished," Negi smiled proudly. He had refined a dual core fire elemental Magic Stone into a pair of Wizard Rings. Now he just had to test them to see what they might have been capable of so he could plan to use them in battle.

A beeping from his watch warned Negi that he had best get going before he ended up being late for his own class. Pocketing the rings and cleaning up his mess, Negi was out the door.

He'd be ready for Phoenix this time, with new magic.

* * *

The day had gone off normally enough with Negi taking attendance and then beginning his English lessons. Nothing extreme happened, which Takamichi would have called the calm before the storm. Negi was just glad that a relaxing class came from his most excitable students for a change.

When lunchtime rolled around, Negi was looking over some paperwork as he ate his lunch. He was only just finished eating when Shizuna approached him with a request.

"Negi-kun, you don't have a class immediately after the lunch period do you?" she asked.

"I don't," Negi shook his head. "Has something come up?"

"You might say that," Shizuna nodded. "You see, the gym teacher for several classes unexpectedly called in sick. We had several free teachers substitute during the day and you're the only one who has the next period free."

"I see," Negi nodded, setting his papers aside. "So which class would I be subbing for and what would I be having them do?"

"Well, it's 2-A you'd be subbing for actually," Shizuna smiled. "As for what to do, the gym teacher just asked us to have his classes play some sports. I would suggest something like volleyball or dodgeball. Something for those girls to burn off their extra energy."

"I'd need longer than an hour to do that," Negi smiled, making Shizuna giggle. "All right, I'll head to where the girls' class is supposed to meet and set up a game for them. Where do they usually go?"

"The rooftop gym area," Shizuna replied. "Thank you for doing this Negi-kun."

"My pleasure," Negi nodded, cleaning up his papers.

The teenage teacher cleaned his workspace before he headed out of the teachers' lounge and upstairs to where the playing space would be. Emerging onto the rooftop, he was somewhat surprised to see that the area was in use. Even more surprising was the fact that he was looking at the girls from St. Ursula playing a game of volleyball. Negi further recognized the girls as the same ones who had arrived to bully his students the previous day.

"Excuse me, but what are you all doing here?" Negi frowned, walking onto the court. "The lunch hour is almost over."

The high school girls immediately took notice of Negi and several began to smile in a sultry way. It seemed they weren't at all dissuaded by his professionalism. In fact, they may have been further enticed to try and get his romantic attention by it.

"It's okay," the leader of the group, the familiar face of Eiko smiled. "We all have a free period next so we can spend a little more time perfecting our game. Is that okay Sensei?"

"No, it's not," Negi frowned further. "Class 2-A is going to be using this space for their gym class. If you want to use a fitness area to play in then that's fine, but the students here get priority for their classes."

"Oh don't say that," Eiko pouted. "Why don't you let some of us try to convince you."

"Convince me?" Negi blinked, but that was before he felt his arms taken hold of and pressed against soft surfaces. Glancing, he saw the smiling faces of two of the St. Ursula girls, having been on the sidelines with more approaching with a naughty gleam in their eyes.

'_Bollocks,_' Negi thought, feeling panic coming into his heart.

* * *

Cerberus was conflicted, very conflicted as he sat on another part of Mahora Academy's roof, looking down on the rooftop volleyball court. His Gate Target was Eiko's best friend and he couldn't bring himself to put her into despair, thus giving birth to another one of his kind. However, if he didn't do as commanded, then Eiko would be sacrificed instead. It wouldn't take much to put her in despair. After all, if she ever found out what he was, she'd be devastated. He was just a monster in human form, stealing the face of a man he'd killed to be born in the real world. Yes, he had his Gate's memories, hopes and dreams, but he was still another entity entirely.

However, his heart was still that of a human and he didn't want to put Eiko through pain. If her friends ever died, she'd be devastated. He couldn't put her through that, but he still needed to protect her no matter what.

But did Eiko have to stand so close to that foreign guy? He was suffering a bleeding heart and she looked like she was about to try flirting with the guy for the rights to the court!

* * *

Negi was beginning to feel like one of his classmates had perfected that 'girl magnet' spell he wanted to complete so badly and had cast it on him as a goodbye present or for an experiment. Either way, it was the only explanation as to why he was finding himself mobbed by the excitable high school girls once again. His arms were being incarcerated inside of soft and squishy prisons while his hands seemed to be in the process of being guided to inappropriate places. Several more soft pillows were being pressed into his back while arms wrapped around his torso to keep him secure. He was also very sure that the whispers being spoken to him were not appropriate for the average school girl either.

Then again, he'd been educated in a school for aspiring mages, most of his time spent with books and training to fight Phantoms, so he may not even know what was average to begin with.

Either way, the sight of Negi being mobbed and molested by the excited high school girls were what the girls of 2-A witnessed when they arrived to begin their gym period. It started with Asuna and Ayaka among a few others as they came out first, but froze in shock at the sight, forcing their remaining classmates to go around them only for them to freeze up at what was happening to their beloved teacher.

"The high school girls again?-!" cried Yuna.

"And they've got Negi-sensei!" Makie shrieked.

"Hm?" Eiko purred, looking at the girls of 2-A. "Oh look, the babies are here. Sorry for just barging in but we had a free period and decided to come here to enjoy the view. Imagine our surprise when hottie-sensei here walks in on all of us. Sure made our day."

"Negi! Why are you on their side?-!" Asuna snapped angrily, ready to pummel him if it was because they seduced him.

"I was subbing for your gym teacher when they jumped me!" Negi cried back, feeling mortified by the things he was feeling and what was being said to him. He was defending himself, really. Honestly, he could fight his way out but he was too much of a gentleman to do so.

"It's first come first serve and we were here first," Eiko smirked. "Sorry babies, but you're out of luck."

"Why you-!" Asuna snarled.

The two sides began to bicker with one another over the court, the high school girls apparently going out of their way to enrage the girls of 2-A. With the temperament of some of the girls like Asuna and Ayaka, things were going to get violent soon enough. It served to help Negi remember that he was indeed the teacher and not the victim despite what several of the girls were trying to do in seducing him into letting him have their way.

"ENOUGH!" he shouted, perhaps using his wind magic to amplify his voice. Pulling himself free from the stunned high schoolers, he turned his gaze to the two groups. Negi had his 'game face' on as it were, the one he usually reserved for fighting Phantoms. It was enough to shock the girls into obedience

anyway.

Negi took a calming glance at the high school girls, "Since you lot seem determined to go at each other, I suggest we do this in a competition instead of simply beating eachother up like a bunch of monkeys. A match of skill at a civilised game." He glanced at both sides, noting a difference of height between most of the members of both sides. "Well, since volleyball would give the high school girls an unfair advantage, the only game we have the equipment for is dodgeball."

"Heh! Sounds good to us," Eiko smirked, hefting the volleyball up. "The winners get first rights on all disputed territories. Just to make things fair, we'll let you guys have eleven extra players since we've got a physical edge."

"Fine! You're on!" Ayaka snapped.

"Good, but if we win..." Eiko grinned before walking up to Negi and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. "Negi-sensei transfers to our school to teach us!"

"EEEEH?-!" the 2-A girls cried out. Ayaka shook her head, but she stayed firm, "Fine! You're still on!"

And so the game was joined. Eleven of the high school girls took their positions on one side and almost everyone from 2-A save for nine members took up positions on the other side. The game then started with Asuna and Ayaka leading the charge, using some impressive force to throw the ball, being able to eliminate one of the girls right off the bat.

Things began going downhill after that.

With twenty-two members on the 2-A team, there was no room for them to move around. Snickering when her trick was revealed, Eiko barely had to throw the ball at all to knock Haruna, Chisame, and Fuuka out of the game. Eiko further showed her bully side by slapping Fumika upside the head with a volleyball, taking a bit of pleasure in lording her superiority over the younger girls.

Asuna tried to retaliate, but Eiko was able to catch Asuna's throw easily, something which shocked Negi considering he had seen how powerful Asuna could be when she was mad and the older girl had done nothing but piss her off since showing up. Eiko and her teammates then revealed that they were a championship dodgeball team who called themselves the Black Lillies.

Negi needed a moment to reboot his mind after that one. High school girls as a dodgeball team? Were the previous champions first-graders or something? Why would a high school have a dodgeball team? In fact, why would high schoolers want to play dodgeball outside of a gym class or two? It made Negi's brain whirl in absurd confusion.

Back to the game though...

With their true skills revealed, the Black Lillies laid into the 2-A girls, ending the numbers advantage they had in short order. The girls of 2-A went into horror when Ayaka and Asuna, their powerhouses were eliminated by using dirty tactics like passing the ball or leaping high so the sun would blind them. Once again Eiko showed her vindictive bully side when she slammed Asuna a second time with the dodgeball even though she was already out.

That was enough!

*PHWEET!* Negi blew into his whistle to pause the game. Seeing he had everyone's attention, he turned to the high school girls, "Eiko-san, remove yourself from the floor."

"H-huh?" the older girl blinked, half-frozen in the middle of her prepared taunt.

"I am tired of seeing you bully your opponents," Negi frowned. "Some of your tactics are questionable at best but this act of outright unsportsmanlike conduct just got you eliminated from the game. I DO NOT tolerate that behaviour in my classes. Now _off!_"

Eiko huffed, but she obeyed. She and Asuna took seats on the sidelines, throwing death glares at each other, but Asuna seemed pleased to see Negi had done something about the girl's actions. It was perhaps hard on Negi's side and he rarely acted that way, but being hardened by fighting Phantoms tended to make one react fast. As a teacher, he had a responsibility to ensure his students behaved and he wouldn't be moved by a pretty face or supple bodies.

Asuna felt a little smug, seeing Eiko pout on being called out for her attitude. Negi was really coming through as a teacher. Too bad he was a teenager. If he was a bit older and mature, maybe she would consider dating him..._Where the heck did that come from!?_

Some of the confidence returned to the girls of 2-A now that the leader of the Black Lillies got herself kicked out of the game. Still, they were afraid of losing just the same since the remaining nine girls on the team were championship dodgeball players. Negi saw the nervousness in them and decided to use the same speech his grandfather gave him when he was nervous about his tests. It was his own skills and courage in the heart that would make true magic. It worked for Negi and after he said it, the girls of 2-A seemed to begin believing it too.

After that, the game became an upset. The girls began using their own personal skills to begin getting an edge. Shy Nodoka became the unofficial rule book with a dodgeball rulebook she got from...somewhere. Nitpicking on the rules, 2-A got possession of the ball again. After that, Akira used her superior arm strength to knock down one player, Ako kicked the ball like a rocket (which wasn't against the rules funnily enough, just looked down on) while Yuna shot the ball down from above with her basketball jumping skills and even Makie used her ribbon to move the ball while it was still in the air.

When the class time ran out, the girls of 2-A were the victorious with their ten players to the two that remained on the Black Lillies' side.

"Time's up!" Negi announced. "Class 2-A wins!"

Eiko huffed and crossed her arms as the girls of 2-A began cheering and crowding around their teacher, happy to see him staying with them where they wanted him. The captain of the Black Lillies was tempted to launch a volleyball at Asuna's head as a parting shot, but considering Negi-sensei's attitude towards how the high school girls acted he'd be ready to chew them out like there was no tomorrow. trying to flirt with him to convince him to see things their way sure didn't work as well as Eiko and her friends thought it would.

Ah well. She could go see her man to soothe her pride.

* * *

**Mahora - Grounds**

Medusa and Phoenix both in human forms stood atop one of the buildings that populated Mahora. Neither of them were particularly happy at the moment. For Phoenix, it was because he was stewing over the stunts that Asuna and Mana pulled to get Wizard away from him. He wanted to go on a burning spree because he was so angry, but only a direct threat to Medusa made him reconsider. Medusa on the other hand was stewing because Cerberus wasn't progressing as fast as she would have liked.

"Oi," Phoenix growled. "How long are you going to sit there staring at nothing?"

Medusa rolled her eyes, looking to her partner, "If you nee to kill something then go kill Cerberus."

Phoenix blinked, "What, really?

"Yes," Medusa nodded. "He's not holding to his end of the deal. Maybe if you're lucky it will attract the Wizard so you can have fun with him."

"HA! That's the best new I've heard all day!" Phoenix laughed, assuming his true form. "I hope that dog remembers hell because he's going to take a one way trip!"

Medusa smirked.

* * *

After school, at a cafe on Mahora grounds, Eiko was with her boyfriend Jacob. She was telling him about the humiliating defeat that she and her team had when playing dodgeball against the middle schoolers.

"I'm sorry you lost," said Jacob sympathetically.

"It's fine. It was our fault for underestimating them. I just thought we could teach them to respect their sempai," replied Eiko. "Plus, it's no fair that they have such a cute teacher."

"So, that's it then," Jacob frowned.

"Oh, it's nothing like that! He's cute but you're my boyfriend, Jacob. You're the one I love," she told him, but rather than smile his frown deepened. "What's wrong?"

"Eiko," he spoke, his tone serious, "Hypothetically speaking, if I ever did something to hurt you, would you ever forgive me?"

"How bad are we talking here?" Eiko frowned. "Like 'you cheated on me' bad?"

"No, not that bad. I know you'd never forgive me if I did that," Jacob shook his head. "I mean like...took something precious from you?"

"Precious?" Eiko blinked, but then her smile turned sultry. "Like my virginity? You want it so bad you'll outright ask for it? You naughty dog!"

Jacob flinched again at being called a 'dog' but she didn't notice. He did blush though, "Wait! No! I mean-!"

"You're too easy Jeikobu-kun!" Eiko giggled, obviously amused at seeing her boyfriend so riled up over something. Still smiling, she regarded the question, "Hm, if you took something precious from me. Well, is it irreplaceable?"

"In the long scheme, not really," Jacob shrugged. After all, how many teens made friends in high school only to lose contact and eventually replace them later in life? "But it would likely hurt for a while after it's gone."

"Hm," Eiko frowned. This was a bit of a riddle to her. "So I can eventually replace it but it would hurt for a bit after it's gone," she turned to regard him. "A bunch of boys aren't going to try a panty raid on our dorms again, are they? I've got some really expensive lacy stuff that I'm waiting to show off for you."

"URK!" Jacob gagged. Oh he could picture it already...

"_Oh look, Fido's going to get lucky!_"

***FWOOSH!***

Eiko screamed and grabbed Jacob's arm as a wall of fire appeared in front of them, cutting off their path and threatening to ignite the trees around them. Eiko was of course scared and confused, but Jacob openly frowned as he realized who was responsible for the sudden inferno.

"Too bad I'm going to have to interrupt," a familiar red Phantom laughed as he walked through the flames as if they were a summer breeze.

"Phoenix," he hissed under his breath. If he could change his form, he would, but not with Eiko present. He couldn't risk exposing himself now, especially not to her. He then decided to just do something crazy as he ran up to Phoenix.

"Jeikobu-kun!" she screamed.

"Eiko! Run!" Jacob shouted at her as he tackled into Phoenix. "I'll distract this thing! Run!"

"But-!"

"I'll be fine! Just go!"

Eiko didn't like it but she did as she was told and made a break for it. Jacob kept an eye on her as she went. Once the flames concealed her completely, indicating she was gone, Jacob leaped away from Phoenix, his Phantom markings appearing over his face.

"Wow, you really played it up for the little lady," Phoenix laughed. "Works out great for me since when I kill her boyfriend she'll drop into despair and be ready for another Phantom to take her place."

"Phoenix-sama, I just needed a few more hours!" Jacob snarled. "You can't expect me to do anything in broad daylight in the middle of campus where all of the magicals are keeping an eye on things!"

"Sorry, but you're taking too long and so we decided to speed things up," Phoenix laughed. "Since you're such a good boyfriend, we'll just kill you and drop your little pet into despair. A new Phantom is born and we kill off the dead weight. Talk about a two for one deal!"

"Like I would allow myself to die!" snarled Jacob as he assumed his true form. "I will place my target in despair, there's no doubt about that! I will do anything to protect Eiko, even do monstrous things!"

"Ha! Well, you're going to die for her. Don't worry though, she'll be showing up in the afterlife right after you!" Phoenix retorted, manifesting his Catastrophe in a blast of flames. "Now time to put down this bad dog!"

Cerberus responded as the dog heads on his shoulders pointed forwards, barking wildly, "See how easy it is!" He lunged with claws ready to tear Phoenix to shreds.

* * *

**Springfield/Kagurazaka/Konoe Residence**

"Huh?" Negi checked his crystal ball. "Two Phantoms? Phoenix and Cerberus?" He blinked, "And they're fighting each other?"

Something about the scene just wasn't right. It was almost surreal. He knew that not all Phantoms got along with how he'd seen some of them react to Medusa and Phoenix, but to see them outright fight each other was something entirely new to him.

Still, strange behaviour or not more Phantoms had appeared and needed to be dealt with. Grabbing his Wizard Rings. Negi leaped to the floor and was out the door in a flash, leaving a surprised Konoka and Asuna behind.

"Negi-kun and his errands," Konoka huffed. "I thought he said he finished he project."

"Uh...who can tell with him," Asuna shrugged, trying to look casual. "Maybe it's a Welsh thing."

* * *

**Cherry Blossom Street**

"AUGH!" Cerberus screamed as a fireball sent him sailing through the air before he crashed to the ground in a heap.

Phoenix chuckled as he approached the downed Phantom with his sword slung over his shoulder, "Yare, yare, maybe it's better we use you as a sacrifice. You don't seem that tough to me."

"Sacrifice...me...?" growled Cerberus.

"You know, make an example out of you so other Phantoms know we're dead serious," Phoenix shrugged. "Medusa said we should do it anyway even if you managed to pull off whatever scheme you had going on with that Gate. We'll just send someone after her anyway."

"You..." Cerberus groaned, trying to stand. "You...were going to...kill me anyway...and turn Eiko...?"

"Yup! Can't have anyone disobeying Wiseman like you did!" Phoenix nodded. "Now, just sit and roll over while I send you to your grave, Fido!"

***BANG! BANG! BANG!***

"YEOW!" Phoenix, rather than Cerberus screamed as several bullets crashed into his back. Turning while ignoring the burning silver, Phoenix's eyes landed on Negi holding the WizarSwordGun. Rather than be angry at the attack, Phoenix began to chuckle, "Ah, Wiz-kid. I was kind of hoping you'd show up. Now this job just got interesting."

"Y-You?" Cerberus coughed. "That foreign teacher guy?"

"I don't know exactly what's going on," Negi frowned, "But I can't allow Phantoms to just go on the rampage even if they are fighting each other," he finished the sentence by passing his right hand over his belt.

"_**DRIVER ON, PLEASE!**_"

Negi shifted the buckle to the 'henshin' position and let its song blare out before lifting his left hand, "Henshin!" passing the goggles over the gem, he then passed it over the Hand Author.

"_**FLAME, PLEASE! HII, HII, HII HII HII!**_"

The magic circle passed over Negi, transforming him into his Flame Style form.

"It's showtime," Wizard announced as he charged at Phoenix, shooting at the Phantom with his weapon. The Executive Phantom blocked the attack with his sword, before likewise charging in with a hawk-like battle cry. As he came in close to try and cut Wizard down, the ring-user dove underneath the strike before in a crouch, riddled Phoenix' side with bullets.

"Gah!" Phoenix cried, stumbling. Righting himself, he glared down at Wizard. "Oh, I'm going to enjoy this you little punk!"

"On the contrary Phoenix!" Wizard called back, standing up, "You are going to get what's coming for you for what you and all your kind did to the people of my village!"

"Oh, you still on a revenge kick for that?" Phoenix grunted. "They were all but dead anyway thanks to whatever turned them to stone. We just moved in and took over. All of them gave up on living when they got petrified anyway. Why let those identities go to waste?"

"It was not your call to make!" Wizard snapped. "You, Medusa, that psychopath you call Wiseman, and all the others had no right to do what you did! I hunt you all down to bring justice for what happened to those innocent people and to protect them from it ever happening again!"

"Oh, cry me a freaking river!" Phoenix snarled before throwing several fireballs at Wizard, forcing him to dodge again but not before several trees were set ablaze by the attacks.

"Oh no!" Wizard gasped. Righting himself, he quickly swapped out his Flame Ring for the Water Ring and scanned it over his buckle.

"_**WATER, PLEASE! SUI~ SUI~ SUI~ SUI~!**_"

The blue magic circle passed over Wizard and turned his crimson aspects blue. Spreading his arms wide, he let his water magic explode from his body, soaking everything around him and putting out the fires that Phoenix had started. Steam rose into the air, forming a dense cloud in the area. Mixed with the ashes still drifting and the blackened ground, it made for a dreary scene.

"Heh! Predictable as always Wiz-kid!" Phoenix laughed. "I'm getting bored here! Don't you have anything new yet or do I just have to kick your ass again?"

Wizard frowned behind his helmet, knowing that Phoenix was right. So far it was just a repeat of their previous fights. They would clash, throw some power around, Phoenix would destroy some property, Wizard would struggle to stop him, then Wizard would get crushed. Something drastic would have to happen if the ring-user wanted to win.

'_Fortunately, I do have something like that,_' Wizard thought to himself, swapping rings again.

"_**FLAME, PLEASE! HII, HII, HII HII HII!**_"

"You're in luck then Phoenix," Wizard spoke, removing the Flame Ring. Placing it on his chain, he produced his new red transformation ring, sliding the goggles over its face. "I do have something new that you've never seen before. Care to see?"

"Ha! Bring it on! I'll even wait for you to finish with it!" Phoenix laughed, once again hefting his sword over his shoulder.

"Good," Wizard nodded before scanning the ring over the Hand Author.

"_**FLAME, DRAGON!**_"

Wizard's world went white...

* * *

Negi opened his eyes, finding himself in the black void again. "What? But...the ring..."

"_Oh, it's working perfectly fine,_" a familiar voice spoke up from behind the teen.

And then the scene changed to a familiar one and Negi saw himself as a child, kneeling down on the grass. He saw the statues of the villagers, but they were not statues. They were in fact the villagers themselves, turned to stone, and Negi had witnessed it all. This was the worst day of Negi's life and he was seeing it all over again.

"_Remember this scene, Negi Springfield?"_

Negi turned and saw _himself_. It was looking in a mirror, except this reflection wore a smug grin and had red eyes.

"Of course I do, Dragon," said Negi as he identified the doppelganger. His inner Phantom might be able to change its shape but not its magical aura which Negi recognized.

"_It's the scene of your greatest despair,"_ said Dragon.

"Yes, and more," said Negi as he saw his younger self. Looking over the carnage, he saw his younger self weeping over Nekane. Her legs were missing, turned to stone and broken off by her own weight, lying a few feet away, little Negi trying to drag her out of the cold air and into a house."I lost everything that day, except her."

"_Your sweet big sister Nekane,"_ Dragon stated.

"My only hope," Negi told Dragon. "She thought she had lost me when she woke up to the carnage, but when I walked in she was so relieved. It was because she held onto hope that I was able to go past that day and because of that I will hold onto hope as well." Negi pointed his fist which was adorned with his new ring at Dragon. "Dragon, lend me your power."

Dragon's grin widened as an aura enveloped him before he shed his human guise, becoming the Wizardragon that Negi was more familiar with. Negi didn't face his Phantom with fear at all.

"_For a little over ten years I waited inside of your Underworld, waiting for you to fall into despair. For over ten years I watched you practice using my mana with your Wizard Rings. I watched you kill your first Phantom when you were thirteen. Now here you stand, countless victories under your belt and standing before me on the verge of your evolution,_" Dragon laughed."_It's true that the ring will allow you to manifest my power in the real world, but its use will push you deep into despair._"

"On the contrary, I believe that your power gives me hope," Negi countered. Dragon leaned him, looking Negi in the eyes.

"_Are you saying __**I**__ am __**your **__hope_?" Dragon questioned. Negi responded with a nod and a confident smile. Dragon laughed, amused, "_Hahaha. Now that's interesting. Very well. Allow me yo give you my power. However, don't say I didn't warn you, though, Negi Springfield!_" Dragon flew up then dove towards Negi, and there was a bright flash of white light as the two entities fused.

* * *

"_**FLAME, DRAGON!**_"

The magic circle appeared and slammed into Phoenix, sending him flying backwards as the Driver continued to chant.

"_**BURN, BURN, BURN BURN BURN!**_"

Wizard's red magic circle appeared and passed over him. From it, a blast of flame emerged shaped like the Wizardragon which began circling around Wizard at a high speed. Wizard's body became engulfed with flames, obscuring him from sight as the flaming dragon fused with the Kamen Rider, seemingly burning off his suit before allowing him to emerge transformed.

Wizard's outer cloth turned bright red, like fire transformed into cloth. His chest armour had likewise changed to look like the Dragon's head with circular gemstones embedded in the brow. His shoulder armour had changed into circular plates with round rubies in the middle. the helmet remained the same, but now sported a silver horns with a red circular ruby embedded on his forehead with a gold mounting.

* * *

**Springfield/Kagurazaka/Konoe Residence**

While Konoka was taking a bath, Asuna took Negi's crystal ball to see what was going on. Her idea was to keep an eye out for Phantoms and maybe give Negi a hand if he needed it. What the glass ball showed was Phoenix completely overpowering him but then all of a sudden she saw Negi whip out a new ring and now he'd completely transformed, sporting new armor and a brand new red coat.

"Is that because of those new rings he's been working on?" Asuna asked herself as she watched the scene.

* * *

A white-robed figure with an amber jewel-like face with a white hood was watching from a distance as he spoke, "So, he managed to evolve."

The White Wizard watched as the young boy he had saved reached the next stage of his evolution. Over ten years he practiced and trained, coming into his power only a few years ago. He was just a small boy then, somehow doing what not even most adults were capable of: holding back a Phantom out of sheer willpower.

The boy was a diamond in the rough and was coming along nicely for his purposes.

* * *

**Cherry Blossom Street**

"Oh, where'd you find this new power?" asked Phoenix, looking interested in what Wizard had just done. "Looks strong."

"Why don't you come over and find out?" challenged Wizard. He replaced the ring on his right hand and kicked up the WizarSwordGun, catching it in his left hand. Wizard answered the challenge and charged at Wizard, swinging catastrophe. Wizard countered, blocking with the WizarSwordGun. Phoenix, arrogant as he was, thought he could overpower Wizard. However, he was proven wrong as Wizard opened up his weapon's Hand Author and put his right hand over it.

"_**COPY, PLEASE!**_"

A second WizarSwordGun appeared in Wizard's free hand, shocking Phoenix, before he was slashed across the chest and then sent staggering with a kick. Now with a copy of the WizarSwordGun in hand, Wizard was given the ability to dual wield against Phoenix. The red Phantom, which initially surprised, didn't seem all that impressed by the change in tactics, but he was happy to try and test out his opponent's new form's powers. With another battle cry, he charged into the fray to meet up with Wizard.

Both sides clashed, Wizard aiming for fast strikes while Phoenix preferred powerful swings with Catastrophe. Wizard's attacks were obviously faster, but Phoenix was capable of dodging or blocking such blows. Still, Wizard was brimming with the power of his inner Phantom, Dragon, and he wasn't the same warrior as before.

"Hyah!" Wizard bellowed, slipping around a strike from Catastrophe to land a blow on Phoenix's back. Phoenix spun around but before he could attack, he was slashed repeatedly by Wizard's two swords before being sent flying backwards by a forward stab. Phoenix grunted and sent out fireballs as Wizard twirled his sword. With precise and fluid motions, Wizard swung and slashed through the fireballs, extinguishing them instantly.

"Fire? I think you'll find that dragons tends to have a phoenix beat in that department," Wizard spoke.

"You smug little brat!" raged Phoenix. "Do you think because you got some fancy new duds and a bit of a power boost you can beat me!?"

"No, I don't think I can beat you," answered Wizard. "I definitely _know _I can."

"You little shit!" Phoenix slashed at Wizard who blocked. As the blades clashed, cracks appeared on Catastrophe. Wizard pushed back and slashed again on Phoenix. Phoenix attacked again only for Wizard's dual blades to parry, causing more cracks to spread along Catastrophe. Wizard pushed against the blade and performed a cross slash, shattering Catastrophe into pieces of useless metal, leaving Phoenix holding onto the blade-less hilt.

"NANI?-!"

Kicking Phoenix back, Wizard folded his blades back into his weapons, turning them into guns once again. Taking aim, he unleashed twin barrages of silver bullets which impacted against Phoenix' hide, further knocking the Executive Phantom back.

"This won't be enough!" Phoenix snapped, his body smoking from the number of silver bullets striking his body. "Nowhere near enough! You don't have enough power to strike me down!"

"Oh? Don't I?" asked Wizard, holstering his weapons. reaching to his side he grabbed the other new ring that he had forged, the stone embedded within shining with magic. "Let's have our finale and see if you can still claim that." Placing the ring on his finger, he set the Hand Author before passing the new ring over it.

"_**VERY NICE! SPECIAL! FABULOUS!**_"

Wizard's back lit up as his magic circle appeared once again. The ring-user's body then levitated into the air as once more as a dragon made of fire erupted from the circle and began to circle the area, making cinders rain down. Phoenix grunted from pain as he watched as the flaming dragon came up to Wizard's back before slamming into him. Wizard's chest then let out a blast of flame before Dragon's head could be seen sticking out of it, roaring with raw fury.

"D-Dragon?" Phoenix gaped. Why was a fellow Phantom helping the ring-user?-!

"A phoenix' fire may be powerful, but nothing is comparable to the fury a dragon can unleash!" Wizard bellowed. "Now feel the fires of retribution! My newest spell: DRAGON'S BREATH!" The Drago Skull bellowed before it unleashed a stream of intense flame down at Phoenix, engulfing the Executive Phantom in its heat. Phoenix screamed as the attack struck him. While a phoenix had a celestial fire about them, making them sacred animals to many, a dragon's fire channeled the raw fury of the earth itself. Phoenix stood no chance as his armour and then his flesh were reduced to cinders before...

***BOOOM!***

Phoenix exploded, ending his life and his tenure as an Executive Phantom. Wizard settled back down on the ground, letting the Drago Skull roar out in victory. He felt a sense of...vindication, destroying Phoenix. In any case, that was one more soul that could rest in peace now that the Phantom that had stolen their face was destroyed.

"Well, that's one down," Wizard sighed, looking at the charred area. "But the second one seems to have run off."

The Drago Skull growled, obviously disappointed.

* * *

Jacob grunted as he limped down the street, his mind a whirl of fear and activity. The Wizard had done it! He had actually killed Phoenix! That was both good and bad. Good because he didn't have to deal with the mad Executive but bad since Wizard could easily defeat him now. Still, the Cerberus Phantom knew he had to be off the hook now. With Wizard running around with that new power of his it would be stupid to try and cause any trouble if he could blow up an Executive like that.

"Just gotta keep my head down," Jacob reminded himself. "I go to the boys school and he sticks to the junior high area. He doesn't see me, he'll never know I'm here."

"Jeikobu!"

Jacob blinked to see who had called his human name. His eyes widened when he saw that the one who called for him had been Eiko, running towards him with tears running down her face. With her were a few of the teachers like Akashi-sensei and Gandolfini-sensei

"Eiko, I thought I told you to run away!" Jacob panted.

"I went to get you help you dummy!" Eiko snapped, trapping her boyfriend in the strongest hug she could manage. "How could you just attack that thing like that? You could have been killed!"

"But I wasn't," Jacob replied.

"Well, that was a very brave thing you did for your lady friend," Akashi nodded to the young man.

"Admittedly dumb, but brave," Gandolfini agreed. "Now where is this supposed monster?"

"Back at Cherry Blossom Street," Jacob pointed his thumb in the direction he went. "It was burning everything. That smoke in the air isn't from another escaped project from the engineering department you know."

"Good," Akashi nodded. "Now you get some medical attention and we'll see about anything else that needs doing."

Leaving Jacob and Eiko behind, the two teaches dashed for the area where the smoke was drifting into the air. They quickly arrived at the scene, but saw that they were just too late to do anything. Anything that was burned was ash and charcoal by that point and the ones responsible for it were long gone. There was nothing Akashi and Gandolfini could do beyond sealing the area off and begin asking around to see if anyone had seen anything out of the ordinary.

"Do you think that gemstone fellow has anything to do with this?" asked the more mellow teacher.

"I'd stake my reputation on it," Gandolfini nodded. "Blast him! His shenanigans are putting all of the magicals here at risk!"

"Not much we can do about it at this point," Akashi reminded his colleague.. "Let's just seal the area off and make sure nothing dangerous was left behind."

If they had noticed, they would've realized that the ash littering the area was moving in a single, uniform direction. This was not caused by the wind though as it was blowing in the opposite direction. The two men may have noticed it, but the magic in the ashes was so subtle and the ambient power in the area so abundant it completely hid what powered the ashes from their sights. As the ashes slipped away they were none the wiser.

* * *

**?**

Inside a location better off unmentioned, a cavern was playing host the the forces of the Phantoms. Medusa was present, her arms folded and looking a little vexed as if she had heard some annoying news. At one end of the cavern was a silk veil where an ambient light illuminated a man sitting in a bed, but no other features were visible.

"Phoenix has failed us and I believe Cerberus has abandoned us, Wiseman-sama," Medusa reported. "I will go execute him immediately."

"No, leave Cerberus be," the man, Wiseman replied. "He believes that he can grasp happiness with that human heart of his. All mankind is destined for despair. When it happens to his little lover, he will be forced to accept that truth as well. A fitting punishment for one such as him, everything he sought to protect being taken away in one fell swoop after thinking he was safe."

"I see," Medusa nodded. She feared the decision might encourage more Phantoms to desert, but she knew better than to question her leader's decision.

"Oh, and how are you feeling now, Phoenix?" Wiseman asked rather suddenly. Medusa turned to the entrance of the cavern to see the panting and exhausted for of Phoenix's human face stumbling inside.

"That damn Wiz-kid actually beat me..." Phoenix uttered.

"But like the phoenix of myth you have arisen from the ashes," declared Wiseman. "This should teach you to never underestimate your opponent again. Learn from this and think of your actions, Phoenix."

Phoenix scowled, but he nodded at Wiseman's words.

* * *

**Springfield/Kagurazaka/Konoe Residence**

"I have to admit, Negi, that you actually surprised me this time," said Asuna. "I mean, that whole dragon thing."

"Saw that did you?" asked Negi, sipping his tea as relief seeped into his bones. "Well, it kind of came as a surprise to me too, but I will not be complaining."

"Yeah, and you took down that Phoenix guy too!" Asuna grinned. "Way to trash the bad guys!"

"Hm," Negi smiled. Yes, for the first time he felt like he actually made some progress against the Phantoms rather than just chiseling away at their combined forces one member at a time. Striking down one of the commanders would be a huge blow to them and one they wouldn't be able to recover easily from. It was all thanks to Dragon too. Of course, Negi knew his inner Phantom well enough to know that he'd only been acting out of a sense of self-preservation. Negi was still his vessel and Negi knew if given the chance, the Phantom would attempt to tear himself out of Negi.

But he could worry about that later. Right now it was time to finally get some rest.

**To Be Continued...**

A/N: Okay, the situation with the Cerberus Phantom is over. Phoenix gets destroyed for the first time by Flame Dragon Style. Still, it seems like Cerberus is different from his fellow Phantoms if it allowed him to fall in love with a human. Will it play a role in things to come? Who can say?


End file.
